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Oak Ridge celebrating 65th anniversary of school desegregation

Posted at 4:36 pm September 5, 2020
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Four of the “Oak Ridge 85” students at a recent music event. From left to right are Larry Gipson (Oak Ridge 85), Eric Dozier (musician), Deloise Mitchell (Oak Ridge 85), Emma McCaskill (Oak Ridge 85), and Mary Guinn (Oak Ridge 85). (Photo by Barbara McCord)

Oak Ridge is celebrating the 65th anniversary of its school desegregation this weekend.

“Sixty-five years ago this September, 85 brave and dedicated young African American students entered all-white classrooms in the Oak Ridge High School and the Robertsville Junior High School in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in a historic school system desegregation,” organizers said in a press release.

It wasn’t the first public school desegregation in the nation, but organizers said it was the first public school desegregation in the Southeast.

“As such, it challenged the racist and sometimes dangerous Jim Crow culture,” the press release said. “This desegregation stands as an important milestone in American civil rights history.”

The anniversary events are being held with the Oak Ridge school system. Public participation in some events had to be scaled back because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Courts, Education, Federal, Front Page News, Government, History, History, K-12, Slider, United States Tagged With: desegregation, Emma McCaskill, Harold Middlebrook, Larry Gipson, Margret Strickland Guinn, Martin McBride, Mary Ellen Mahone Bohanon, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge 85, Oak Ridge High School, Oak Ridge Schools, public school desegregation, Robertsville Junior High School, Rose Weaver, school desegregation

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