Wilmington, NC Teachers' Video - 1, 1990-1995

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-	[Annie Mae McMillian] Respect themselves first.	0:07
	And love themselves first.	0:11
	If they love themselves,	0:18
	and if they respect themselves,	0:21
	they will love and respect others.	0:22
	Those are two things that we need today.	0:27
	In every facet of life, we need love and respect.	0:32
	And then to be led to be concerned about our fellow man.	0:39
	We need to really learn to live for others.	0:44
	And let living for others be our motto.	0:50
	The homeless person on the street,	0:54
	we need to stop and help them.	0:57
	There's so many things that young people can do.	0:59
	And they want to do these things.	1:04
	But we've got to bring them together	1:07
	and channel their thoughts and their energies	1:09
	into the right avenues and all of that.	1:12
	They might prove to be productive.	1:15
	Because in my book, everybody's somebody.	1:18
	I don't care who you are, where you are.	1:21
	Everybody is somebody.	1:25
	The president of the United States,	1:28
	a member of Congress, a policeman on the street,	1:30
	the trash man, the homeless person,	1:34
	the baby,	1:38
	the person making a speech, the people on the television,	1:40
	everybody.	1:43
	And until we love and respect everybody,	1:45
	we're not gonna make it.	1:48
	That's what I try to teach.	1:50
	And that's why I try to conduct myself	1:53
	in a way that I can help somebody.	1:55
	Until I help somebody, then I have lived in vain.	1:59
	That's what it's all about, helping.	2:04
-	[Margaret Harris Evans] When I left Peabody School,	2:07
	I went to Williston Primary School,	2:09
	and the first project I did there	2:12
	was giving directions	2:15
	and having the children locate places	2:17
	and give directions themselves,	2:20
	because when I was at Peabody,	2:22
	it was a problem finding streets	2:25
	over in that section of town.	2:28
	I always lived on the south side of town,	2:30
	and children on the south side of town	2:33
	didn't go on the north side too frequently.	2:36
	So I knew very little beyond Red Cross Street.	2:39
	But when I got to Williston Primary, we had this project,	2:43
	like locating the city hall.	2:46
	Directing somebody to the post office, or things like that.	2:50
	And the children enjoyed it.	2:54
	Well I enjoyed it too,	2:55
	because some places I didn't know about.	2:57
-	[Kate Marsh Moore] Out of, out of	3:01
	Years of teaching experience, 43 years.	3:04
	28 of these years were taught at Blunt School.	3:11
	Nine of these years were taught at Matthew Philips School.	3:19
	And my most memorable experience whilst teaching	3:30
	was the fact of the integration era.	3:36
	I would like to say that if	3:44
	parents,	3:50
	teachers and children co-operate,	3:53
	they will have a better learning situation,	3:58
	and better learning experiences.	4:05
-	[Annie Lou Highsmith] My most memorable experience	4:08
	was when I was teaching	4:11
	and a child,	4:14
	who was a learner that couldn't grasp things too quickly,	4:16
	and then I would try to present a skill to that individual,	4:24
	and he would finally see that he understood,	4:29
	and his eyes would lighten up,	4:34
	and he would say "Oh, that's easy."	4:36
	That was most rewarding to me in all situations.	4:42
	And to all teachers, that is a rewarding dream,	4:46
	to know that you have finally reached a person.	4:50
	I have labeled myself as a dedicated teacher.	4:55
	I've also labeled myself as a mother	5:02
	to some of the children.	5:05
	I have labeled myself as a lawyer.	5:07
	I have labeled myself as a doctor.	5:10
	And I could go on and on.	5:14
	And friend, basically.	5:16
-	[Annie Gardner Burnett. Deceased] I came to Wilmington	5:18
	in 1940.	5:20
	And my first job was at Williston Industrial High School.	5:24
	I think the most memorable thing about the job was	5:32
	that Black students had not had any business education	5:37
	before that time.	5:43
	I began teaching mathematics in the eighth grade.	5:45
	The certification I received once my transcript was sent	5:52
	from West Virginia State College	5:55
	to the North Carolina State Board of Education.	5:58
	They had qualified me to teach so many different subjects	6:07
	because of my degree in Business Administration	6:11
	that I was able to get a job	6:14
	which I considered that was my field,	6:16
	but I did want a job, so I took it.	6:18
	I was there two years when they brought in	6:23
	some typewriters they had purchased	6:27
	from the government at one of the surplus sales	6:30
	somewhere around Raleigh.	6:35
	Of course, this made me very happy	6:39
	because I was the only one there	6:40
	who was qualified to teach typewriting.	6:43
	Through Wachovia Bank,	6:50
	I was able to place the first Black lady,	6:51
	a student of Williston, in that bank,	6:55
	and from then on,	7:02
	until the time of integration,	7:05
	Wachovia would only hire Black girls to work	7:09
	if they were recommended by me.	7:14
Marie M. Tucker	My most memorable experience	7:17
	of teaching,	7:20
	I was working with young children,	7:21
	the beginner children,	7:24
	and that work was just like,	7:25
	you see a rose in the morning, a bud,	7:28
	and in the afternoon,	7:32
	that rose bud turned in to a beautiful rose.	7:33
	That's what you get from little children	7:38
	when they start developing,	7:40
	and personally, I think integration hurt more.	7:42
	Because	7:51
	later in the years,	7:54
	we needed more Black teachers into the schools,	7:56
	and that's what we don't have now,	8:01
	and it has hurt our children.	8:03
	We were dedicated people, I was a dedicated person,	8:07
	and I would walk into the class room for the first time.	8:09
	I went into work	8:13
	and not with one child, but with all of them.	8:15
	I don't think that.	8:18
	I don't know whether I was born a teacher,	8:21
	but I do know this, I worked with children,	8:25
	they loved me and I loved them.	8:29
	And we got along beautifully.	8:31
	Through the years.	8:34
	And along with the parents.	8:36
	I had beautiful parents, just like I had beautiful kids.	8:39
-	[Charles L. Bryant Jr.] Every time I taught,	8:43
	I attempted to live in such a way	8:45
	that my life would be worthy of emulation,	8:47
	so far as the students were concerned.	8:50
	I was concerned about dress,	8:53
	I was concerned about the way I performed.	8:55
	And sometimes,	8:58
	and of course my students would remind me of	8:59
	a number of things I said,	9:02
	and a number of demonstrations were made,	9:04
	concerned the way they were tired	9:07
	when they came to school.	9:09
	I also tried to fix in their minds	9:11
	the necessity of preparing themselves in this world.	9:15
	Another feature about the matter of integration,	9:21
	I think of course there were benefits to be derived	9:23
	from integration.	9:26
	I feel, of course,	9:28
	that when the schools became desegregated,	9:29
	the amount of interest that was manifested	9:32
	during the time Williston was in operation	9:34
	was not in the same effect.	9:37
	The things I have reference to	9:40
	during the times of commencement,	9:41
	there was standing room only at Williston.	9:43
	When it got mentioned of course	9:47
	in the desegrated units occurred,	9:49
	they found that many of our people were absent.	9:51
	When you think in terms of the glee club,	9:55
	under Miss Odell, and under Mr Thompson,	9:57
	when performances were given by them,	10:01
	there were quite a number of them,	10:03
	the schools were all Black,	10:04
	and all the members of course were Black.	10:06
	In the White set up,	10:08
	you had to pick to find you probably had	10:10
	probably a sprinkling of our people,	10:13
	and I wondered sometimes where all the talent	10:16
	among Black people went,	10:19
	because I felt, of course, we had it.	10:21
-	[Daisy Brown Bryant] Integration, it has done some good,	10:24
	but children are allowed to see things now,	10:28
	and not just hear about them.	10:33
	They are taking the places	10:35
	where they experience different people	10:37
	who are working in different occupations,	10:39
	and develop them to decide	10:42
	just what their life to be themselves and work for it.	10:44
	And they have every opportunity,	10:47
	so many opportunities open for them.	10:50
	In the schools, they have so much more to work with.	10:54
	And we had, before integration came in.	10:57
	Certainly now, machines, visual aids and stuff,	11:00
	enough to go around,	11:06
	where we were short before,	11:07
	sometimes we were not able to get it.	11:08
	In this sense, integration is good,	11:11
	because it has taught the children,	11:15
	it teaches the children how to get along with each other,	11:17
	regardless of race or color.	11:20
	And doing this, it makes good citizens,	11:23
	it will help to make good citizens when they grow up.	11:26
	And it shows too, another thing,	11:30
	seems like when integration came along,	11:33
	then some new laws,	11:36
	somebody came up with this idea that children have rights.	11:37
	And seems like since they have these rights,	11:41
	they have just gone to space, a lot of them.	11:44
	They figured that they know everything, some of them,	11:47
	and they won't listen to the parents,	11:50
	and that's the reason that so many young kids today	11:52
	are getting into trouble.	11:56
	And another law that was passed, I'll mention,	11:57
	that they're not supposed to be whipped in school.	12:05
	Now when they're whipped,	12:10
	they're just given a little brushing off	12:15
	to let them know that there's certain things	12:17
	that they're supposed to do.	12:19
	Before integration, we taught them certain things	12:21
	of how to respect, as I've mentioned before,	12:25
	and to be honest,	12:28
	and to respect authority,	12:30
	such as laws and things of that type.	12:32
-	[Katherine McKenzie MacRae] Well I can't say that,	12:37
	it hurt, in a way, maybe it did hurt,	12:40
	and in a way, it did help.	12:42
	One way that I think that it hurt my race	12:45
	is that I could not keep them at the school	12:51
	and help them with the things that they needed help.	12:56
	And they would come if they could,	12:59
	but they had to ride the bus.	13:01
	And they had to be on that bus to go home,	13:04
	'cause they had no other way to go home,	13:06
	and I couldn't take them home	13:08
	if I had a car at that time,	13:09
	I would have kept inviting who wanted to stay	13:12
	and help them,	13:15
	because I was in Williston.	13:16
	Williston Junior High, that is.	13:23
	I would stay at the school sometimes,	13:25
	because I could walk home in five minutes myself,	13:28
	and the children would stay,	13:31
	some of those from well across town would stay,	13:33
	and as long as I could give them,	13:36
	they would stay and get help with math and science.	13:40
-	[Isabelle M. Dicks] There were a lot	13:45
	of little things that we didn't know.	13:47
	And I tried to give them all of the things	13:49
	that I felt that I had not had when I was coming along.	13:52
	I felt that there were little things like table manners	13:56
	that were not in a book.	14:00
	There were other social graces	14:02
	that I felt that they needed that were not given at home.	14:05
	And there were study habits	14:10
	that many of their homes did not provide,	14:17
	and we provided that at school.	14:19
	I hope that I instilled confidence.	14:25
	I hope that I instilled in them to be better than good.	14:28
	I hope that I made them feel	14:34
	that they could compete with any group anywhere.	14:37
	I tried to give them all of the things	14:42
	that I felt that I needed.	14:45
	I put myself in each person's place	14:47
	and I tried to give them the things that I thought	14:51
	that I needed.	14:54
-	[Lucille Franks Bess] I don't think	14:57
	that my students needed me	14:59
	for anything else.	15:00
	They had heard that I was a strong teacher.	15:01
	I had taught some of the parents of the Black children.	15:05
	And their parents had told them	15:10
	"I want you to be a student of Mrs Bess."	15:12
	And many times, there were little questions	15:16
	about whether or not they were able	15:20
	to come up to my expectations.	15:24
	And they tried.	15:27
	They went that 100th mile	15:29
	to try to do what they thought I would want done.	15:33
	Staying after school, washing boards,	15:38
	bringing in extra material for the classes	15:42
	and what have you.	15:48
-	[Ollie Mendenhall Telfair] Today	15:51
	there is a lack of commitment	15:53
	on the part of parents with the school.	15:56
	We used to have the PTA	16:00
	and that was a motivating, a moving organization	16:01
	that worked closely with the parents and the teachers.	16:06
	And things got done that the school was with the teachers,	16:10
	and the teachers were with the school.	16:16
	And kids really performed.	16:18
	Yeah, and the whole community, it seemed,	16:23
	was behind the school, the teacher and the child.	16:25
	If you did something wrong in school,	16:29
	it would get back to the parents	16:32
	and the parents would do something about it,	16:33
	and you didn't commit that anymore,	16:36
	because that child knew	16:38
	that their parents would be after them.	16:39
	And anyway.	16:43
Interviewer	Why did you think it was so good	16:44
	in the segregated schools?	16:46
-	[Louise Yeoman Gore] Well, I just think	16:49
	the teachers we had,	16:51
	the co-operation of the parents,	16:52
	and we were freer to teach the children	16:55
	and to hold their interests.	16:57
	While the other schools were,	17:02
	they had their advantages and disadvantages.	17:04
Interviewer	What are some of the	17:08
	disadvantages in the White schools?	17:10
-	[Louise Yeoman Gore] Well, I don't think children	17:13
	got the attention	17:13
	that they should've gotten.	17:15
	They seemed to be disillusioned at times,	17:17
	and they created a lot of problems.	17:22
	They had a lot of drug problems,	17:25
	a lot of discipline problems.	17:26
	And that kind of stuff.	17:29
	It kept the children from learning.	17:31
	They didn't have anybody to push them.	17:33
-	[Gracie Nichols Foxworth] The girls and boys	17:37
	are so wonderful today.	17:41
	And I feel that	17:44
	we, the teachers in New Hanover Town	17:47
	during the 40s and 50s and 60s,	17:50
	worked to give all that we had.	17:54
	Children are like the bank	17:59
	in which we store faith in the future,	18:03
	and all human law.	18:08
	The ideas and ideals of our world.	18:12
	In the bright wonder of an upturned face,	18:17
	we see the whole hope of man's betterment.	18:21
	Children are saving, but cannot be spent.	18:26
	It is a joy, or it was a joy,	18:33
	to hold the first graders' and second graders' hands,	18:36
	and help them to unfold like a flower	18:40
	at the end of the year.	18:44
	And best of all, it was like this.	18:47
	To give our children back again to life.	18:51
	Grown up young men and young women.	18:58
-	[Julia Mack Bibbs] Having taught	19:05
	in New Hanover County around 20 some years,	19:06
	during the time of segregation,	19:10
	I found the teachers to be very co-operative.	19:13
	I found them to share ideas with each other.	19:17
	And I found most of all, the co-operation of the parents.	19:22
	When you needed the parents, they were there.	19:26
	When a child became a discipline problem,	19:30
	the parents were there.	19:33
	Today as I teach in an integrated situation,	19:36
	or more or less I would say a desegregated situation,	19:39
	I find that the parents are much younger	19:43
	than the parents of years ago.	19:45
	Therefore, the co-operation is not as strong as it was	19:48
	in the late 50s and early 60s.	19:55
-	[Thelma Williams-Williams] I have two	20:00
	most memorable experiences.	20:02
	One occurred when I was assigned a seventh grade class,	20:06
	and then I realized I was the smallest person	20:13
	in the class room.	20:16
	The second occurred when I jumped in	20:19
	to stop two of my boys from fighting	20:23
	and I ended up in the hospital.	20:27
	Now as an educator,	20:30
	I saw my role as one of fostering self-esteem	20:32
	and instilling a sense of accomplishment	20:39
	in each of my students.	20:44
	I assured them that God had given all of them talents	20:47
	which they had to develop.	20:51
	It was so that I had to encourage them	20:55
	to work to their fullest potential	21:00
	by telling them that nothing would be handed to them	21:02
	on a silver platter.	21:05
	Not only did I teach the three R's,	21:08
	but I added two others.	21:11
	Respect and responsibility.	21:13
	To me, integration has helped,	21:18
	in that it has shown the Caucasian people	21:22
	that the Blacks are very intelligent,	21:27
	and they can accomplish and outshine them in many areas.	21:30
Sara Lee White	I stayed at Gregory Elementary School	21:38
	for seven years.	21:41
	And I worked five of them in the fourth grade.	21:44
	And then I had the sixth grade	21:52
	the next two years that I was there.	21:55
	I loved my work very, very much while I was there.	21:58
	And there was a lot of co-operation there,	22:04
	and a lot of love,	22:08
	because the teachers shared the information with me.	22:11
	But I remember my principal saying	22:17
	that we are not here to teach books.	22:21
	We are here to teach children.	22:24
	So my biggest interest then was to find out	22:27
	where each child was at the time	22:31
	and start from there.	22:34
-	[Marvin "Zip" Johnson] And I so much wanted my students	22:36
	to do better than I had done.	22:40
	When I was in school, my teachers,	22:44
	and I think that's one thing	22:47
	we all should be so grateful for,	22:49
	the teachers were more than just teachers.	22:51
	They loved us, they pushed us, they cared about us,	22:56
	and that's one thing that students don't have today	23:00
	like we did then.	23:05
	And we had brilliant teachers.	23:06
	I remember Miss Annie King.	23:08
	I came to her one morning and said,	23:13
	"Look ma'am, I haven't memorized my sonnet."	23:16
	And this was about 8:15 in the morning.	23:20
	She says "Well I'm gonna call on you at the regular time	23:23
	"and you better be ready when I call."	23:27
	I had to rush out of that room there	23:30
	and memorize that sonnet	23:33
	that I should have done the night before,	23:35
	but she was teaching me a great lesson,	23:37
	that "Yeah, I like you as a son,	23:39
	"but I'm not going to let you get away with it."	23:41
	I remember Miss Mildred Washington telling me	23:44
	at the end of one six week period,	23:49
	"Look Marvin, your average for this six weeks is 84."	23:52
	She was letting me know that look,	23:59
	you haven't done the very best that you could do,	24:02
	so you're gonna get a C.	24:05
	Now I remember Miss Holmes, Elizabeth Holmes.	24:09
	And pardon me, ma'am, I don't know your last name now,	24:13
	because I understand you were just married	24:16
	and I think it's Salter.	24:20
	She pushed me and helped me.	24:23
	And Miss Alice Loughton.	24:27
	Miss Loughton did so much to encourage me.	24:31
	And all of these people, and I can name many more,	24:37
	we had real geniuses teaching us.	24:40
	Miss Holmes, Miss King, Miss Catherine Robinson.	24:43
	And I as an individual did not take advantage	24:48
	of that situation on a positive side, the way that I should.	24:53
	See, I left high school with barely a B average,	25:00
	and when I got to college	25:06
	and realized that I was paying my money then to be educated,	25:09
	I remember my first biology test, I made 99 on it,	25:13
	and everybody in the class was just looking to me then	25:18
	to provide the leadership and knowledge in biology.	25:22
	I made 90 something on my math exam,	25:25
	and I looked at that and said "My God,	25:27
	"Miss Holmes would be very proud."	25:31
	And Mr. Tally, who was another excellent teacher.	25:33
	So we had very talented people,	25:37
	who themselves were deprived,	25:40
	because they could've been outstanding professors	25:43
	at any university,	25:47
	if they had not had to carry the baggage of prejudice	25:48
	and discrimination.	25:52
	And it's everywhere, just like Linda,	25:53
	you just noted that I'm the only Black man there	25:56
	in a meeting now with	26:00
	about 30 some business people from Dupont,	26:02
	and it's that way all the time,	26:06
	so we are still carrying baggage of discrimination	26:07
	and deprivation.	26:11
	So I wanted my students to really seize the moment.	26:13
	To really fight to get everything	26:19
	out of those class activities they could,	26:23
	because I knew that as an individual,	26:27
	I had not taken full advantage of them.	26:29
	But I got enough, because my teachers were so good,	26:32
	I got enough to be rather outstanding in college.	26:36
	What could I have achieved had I been more attentive	26:40
	in Miss Salters...	26:45
	Ma'am, I keep wanting to call you Miss Holmes,	26:48
	in that algebra class?	26:51
	What could I have accomplished had I been	26:54
	even more attentive in Miss Washington's English class?	26:56
	And Miss King's English class?	27:00
	And that's why I wanted my students	27:02
	to be a better high school student than I was,	27:05
	because I knew what was waiting for them on the outside,	27:09
	in terms of prejudice and discrimination and so on.	27:13
	You know, I wouldn't have even gotten to college	27:17
	had it not been for Mr Washington.	27:20
	He called me in his office at graduation time	27:24
	and said "Look Marvin, I got an opportunity	27:27
	"for you to go up to Lincoln."	27:30
	And this is just another manifestation	27:31
	of how our teachers went far beyond	27:34
	just giving us information	27:37
	and trying to get us to learn.	27:39
	They cared about us.	27:44
	They wanted us to be well disciplined.	27:47
	They wanted us to try to use our talents to the utmost.	27:51
	And this is the reason why I wanted my students	27:57
	to really do better than I had done,	28:01
	and I knew that many of them	28:05
	had more innate ability than I had.	28:07
	I'll never forget, one of my class mates at Williston,	28:10
	Alonzo Austin,	28:15
	he came from very impoverished circumstances,	28:17
	but was so brilliant,	28:21
	very outstanding in the class room,	28:24
	even in high school.	28:26
	I don't know whether Alonzo was able	28:27
	to go to college or not,	28:29
	but I know that he had the potential	28:30
	of exceeding all of the rest of us,	28:32
	and he did go because of his grasp	28:35
	and his ability and the advantage that he took	28:37
	of being a good student in high school,	28:40
	so I just think I was just extremely blessed	28:42
	and I feel like all of us who had an opportunity	28:47
	to be students of Miss King, Miss Robinson,	28:50
	Miss Holmes, Miss Payne, Miss Loughton,	28:56
	Miss Williams, and I can go on and on.	28:59
	And Miss Burnett, and many, many others.	29:02
	You just don't have that quality here	29:06
	of individual teaching today.	29:09
	And in addition to just being teachers,	29:12
	they loved us, they cared for us,	29:15
	and they kept pushing us.	29:17
	I made D's.	29:19
	I didn't have a good six weeks	29:21
	if I came up with a C in algebra.	29:23
	But it wasn't because	29:26
	I did not have the resources from my teachers.	29:32
	I had a teacher who was a genius.	29:35
	Many of them were.	29:38
	And if I had taken full advantage of that,	29:39
	I could've gone so much further than I went,	29:42
	and that's what I wanted to...	29:45
	Now I did so much better in college,	29:46
	but even at making D's and C's in math,	29:49
	my background at Williston was so strong	29:53
	that I was able to go and handle math	29:57
	with relative ease in college,	30:01
	because of the outstanding performance of my teachers	30:03
	and because they cared so much.	30:07
	Well, in the 30s and 40s,	30:11
	there was a famous monkey in the zoo.	30:16
	And his name was Zip,	30:20
	and the encyclopedias will confirm that for you.	30:23
	And when I was born, my mother's cousins	30:28
	and other relatives said that I was such an ugly baby,	30:32
	and so they tagged the nickname on me of Zip.	30:36
	And it's been with me all my life.	30:40
	One thing I know that any time I hear that name,	30:43
	I know that somebody who really knows me,	30:46
	and who really has been close to me	30:49
	in the early years of my life.	30:51
	And there are a lot of people in Wilmington	30:54
	who know nothing,	30:56
	don't even know that my name is Marvin, they know just Zip.	30:57
	(upbeat music)	31:06
Richard Irving	What you have just heard	31:18
	are statements expressing each former educator's ideas	31:20
	about what it meant to have the charge	31:24
	of educating Colored children	31:27
	in the first 68 years of this century	31:29
	in the segregated schools of New Hanover County	31:32
	in the State of North Carolina.	31:35
	Realizing that education was at best	31:38
	done with inadequate equipment,	31:42
	supplies and furnishings,	31:44
	it is noteworthy that the process was highly successful	31:46
	because of the commitment, determination, concern	31:50
	and love which flowed from the teachers	31:54
	to each student in their classes.	31:56
	What is quite remarkable is	31:59
	that with all the baggage educators had to bring	32:01
	with them to their jobs,	32:03
	they had a tremendous grasp of their fields	32:05
	and an ability to make learning interestingly attractive,	32:08
	so that even the most compromised student	32:13
	wanted to reach his potential.	32:16
	Doing so was an understood given in the school arena	32:23
	during those years.	32:27
	The purpose of this film is not to depress nor to incite,	32:30
	it is simply to tell our story.	32:34
	It would be a mistake to fail to share with others	32:36
	the history of the Colored school child's education	32:39
	in this southern town.	32:42
	It is not unique to New Hanover County.	32:45
	What happened here happened all over the south	32:47
	in segregated schools.	32:50
	Let us never forget that no progress comes without a price,	32:52
	and sometimes, that price is high.	32:57
	Whether our gains surpass our losses	33:00
	can only be judged by the place it takes in our history.	33:03
	(upbeat music continues)	33:17
Diane Emerson	The love and pride	33:25
	we all share for Williston	33:26
	is best expressed in this poem,	33:29
	"Two Loves Have I We,"	33:32
	written by Mrs Lucy Davies, a local educator	33:35
	and former Willistonian.	33:39
	"Two loves have I we,	33:43
	but they are not quite the same.	33:46
	They have a commonality	33:49
	which is the dearest and sweetest name.	33:51
	They have the glorious name of Williston,	33:55
	which was the greatest school under the sun.	33:58
	The school that disciplined our minds,	34:02
	yet provided time for fun.	34:05
	The first Williston, Tenth and Ann,	34:09
	stands in all its glory,	34:11
	and has made history within its walls.	34:14
	The students were taught the value of an education,	34:18
	in the class rooms and from posters in the halls.	34:22
	Williston had some of the finest teachers	34:26
	that could be found anywhere in our land.	34:30
	They taught with pride and dignity,	34:33
	and at a level where students could understand.	34:36
	Their technology consisted of a blackboard	34:40
	with the use of a chart or two.	34:44
	They encouraged the students to listen	34:47
	as they explained how and what to do.	34:50
	The six point lesson plan was their innovation,	34:54
	for they always started with a review.	34:58
	They were masters of having materials ready,	35:02
	because this they required their students to do.	35:06
	The teachers' input was magical,	35:10
	for they made learning worth your while.	35:14
	Students were eager every morning	35:17
	to walk for knowledge that extra mile.	35:20
	The students worked and learned independently	35:24
	with all of the lattice linked within.	35:28
	Ability grouping was not a priority,	35:31
	and being slow was not the greatest of sin.	35:35
	School spirit was always at a high,	35:39
	for we were proud of the maroon and gold.	35:43
	Students were taught to bring the honors,	35:47
	because they had a reputation to uphold."	35:50
Richard Irving	A second Williston came into existence,	35:56
	and it was a replica of number one.	36:00
	The external features were different,	36:04
	but internally, no other changes had been done.	36:08
	The students kept the honors coming,	36:13
	from all parts of the state.	36:16
	It was known that the schools were unequal,	36:19
	but the students continued to accelerate.	36:22
	Williston was at its pinnacle when integration came.	36:27
	The closing of our alma mater jolted us	36:31
	like a bolt of lightning can jolt a man.	36:35
	Our hearts were truly saddened	36:39
	when Williston was closed that day.	36:41
	We knew it was no longer in existence,	36:44
	for it had been taken away.	36:48
	Many years have since passed,	36:51
	but the memories are still in the heart.	36:54
	Perhaps we could have retained it,	36:58
	if we had been persistent from the start.	37:00
	Gone are the memorabilia	37:05
	that made our hearts shout with glee.	37:08
	Gone is a part of Wilmington's Black history	37:12
	that we enjoyed so immensely.	37:17
	The Williston Tenth and Ann is in its final stage,	37:24
	as stated by the powers to be,	37:29
	they said it is no longer safe	37:32
	for the children who attended as Gregory.	37:35
	Stand up sons and daughters of Williston	37:39
	and ask as very last plea,	37:43
	ask that a special landmark be erected	37:48
	so that Williston will always be in our memory.	37:51
	Two loves have I, we,	37:57
	and their names are Williston.	38:00
	These are our alma maters	38:04
	and the greatest schools under the sun.	38:07
	(upbeat music continues) [The Williston Commemorative Video]	38:19
	(upbeat music continues)	38:33
	[Narrated By Diane Emerson. Richard Irving]	38:35
	[Video By Tom Atwood]	38:44
	(upbeat music continues)	38:46
	(no audio)	39:09
Meteorologist	Oklahoma,	39:22
	there is a watch for severe thunderstorms.	39:23

Item Info

Title:

Wilmington, NC Teachers' Video - 1, 1990-1995

Date:

1990 to 1995

Creator:

Duke University. Center for Documentary Studies

Format:

videocassettes

Language:

English

Digital Collection:

Behind the Veil

Source Collection:

Behind the Veil: Documenting African American Life in the Jim Crow South interviews, photographs, and project records, circa 1864-2011, bulk 1990-2004

Series:

Video, 1990-1995 and undated

Provenance:

The David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library acquired the Records of the Behind the Veil Oral History Project from the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies in 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2002.

Rights:

No Re-Use

In Copyright

Rights Note:

This material is made available for research, scholarship, and private study. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations: https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

Identifier:

RL00170-VHS-0010
0f9c8a4ee24246115d8d3f115bc16b82
behindtheveil
d6727c0f-1369-44ee-b5cb-018dd5bd00e2
ark:/87924/r43n2bn5c
d6727c0f-1369-44ee-b5cb-018dd5bd00e2

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r43n2bn5c

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Wilmington, NC Teachers' Video - 1, 1990-1995

Transcript

Item Info

John Hope Franklin Research Center

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