The Virginian-Pilot
©
NORFOLK
They were just kids when they were locked out of their high schools for senior year in a racially and politically charged integration standoff that they didn't understand.
The 1,300 seniors, known as the Lost Class of '59, just wanted to cheer at pep rallies, twist at school dances and earn diplomas.
But Massive Resistance shuttered Norfolk's three public high schools in 1958 instead of allowing in black students. And the senior classes were forced to scatter.
Fifty years later, many of them were awarded honorary diplomas Monday from Maury,
Granby and Norview high schools - schools they affectionately consider their alma mater but that they never graduated from.
About 100 former students requested diplomas and about 25 of them processed into the Chrysler Museum's Huber Court to "Pomp and Circumstance" to collect the diplomas and to reunite with classmates.
Mike Walker's official diploma says Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake, where he attended night classes in 1958 and 1959 before moving on to Washington and Lee University and then the University of Virginia.
But his heart has always been with Granby, where he was a star athlete and where he met his wife of more than 46 years.
"I was to be the big man on campus my senior year, and all of a sudden, it was wiped out," he said.
"This," Walker said, running his fingers across the embossed diploma. "This means a lot to me."
It was a tumultuous time for the students and the city. The state shuttered six city schools at the start of the 1958-59 school year to avoid integration, denying a public education to more than 10,000 students.
Many of the seniors scrambled to move on with their lives. Some attended private tutoring groups in churches and synagogues. Some went to school in neighboring communities or started college early. Others married, joined the military or were sent to live with relatives in other parts of the country.
By the time the schools reopened in February 1959, fewer than one-third of the seniors returned. With them were 17 black students known as the Norfolk 17, who were the first to integrate the city schools.
"I was upset my life had been upset," Walker said. "I was upset the adult community didn't do a better job solving this problem.
"I thought it was unfair. But in retrospect, the people who were treated most unfair were the Norfolk 17. At the time, I was insulated about what was going on on the other side."
Bill Floyd said that as hard as it was for him to finish at Chesapeake's Great Bridge High School instead of Maury, he knows it was nothing compared to the experience of Norfolk's first black students.
"I am so sorry about the treatment they got," Floyd said. "The people at Great Bridge were extremely good to us."
"It was a complicated time for adults, and we the students were affected by it," said Barbara Levine Abraham from Granby.
"I was angry about it because it was something that seemed so unnecessary," she said. "I wanted to be in school. They (black students) wanted to be in school. So I couldn't understand why they wouldn't open it up for us."
Abraham attended a tutoring group for several months, then started college early at the Norfolk campus of the College of William and Mary (now Old Dominion University). She later transferred to the Williamsburg campus.
Suzanne Shipp Owens, one of the seniors who returned to Granby to graduate in 1959, worked with the city and the School Board to help set up Monday's recognition.
"Through this process there's been a lot of soul searching, a lot of emotion," Owens said. "I am pleased I've been able to pull our class back together."
After the diplomas were distributed, the choruses from the three high schools performed their school anthems, bringing everyone to their feet.
Finally, the graduates processed outside and stood in the courtyard in the drizzle, unable to get back in through a side door where a reception awaited.
"It's 50 years later, and we're still locked out," one graduate joked.
Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com
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You said this...
This is what you said and meant to convey. It is futile to try and say you meant something else when what you said is in plain view for all to reread:
What were they doing in the mean-time?
Submitted by rb-thompson on Tue, 05/12/2009 at 8:34 am.
50 years, and none of them bothered to get a real diploma or even a GED? Did any of these people manage to make it into a college within the last 50 years?
To rb-thompson
You are right the diploma is just a gesture now, but it doesn't surprise me that people find it significant. Plenty of people become attached to particalar times, places and groups of people. Schools are no exception. Also this was a relatively significant event in the history of the civil rights movement. These 1300 white students were a unique part of it. The city was essentially willing to deny every child education in order deny that education to minorities. These students were the scapegoats for the racists of the time. Why should'nt their sacrifices be acknowledged? There seems to be nothing gained in being snarky and dismissive of this little rememberance.
Lost Class and Norfolk 17
Might be important to note that many of the Lost Class attended and supported events honoring the Norfolk 17, sharing their thoughts of the lessons of that time- and the way it shaped their lives. Lost class members approached today's students- those choral students who proudly sang their schools' Alma Maters- with open arms, spending time talking to the kids about what the kids were studying, sharing stories of the old schools, clubs, sports, etc... The kids loved talking to them just as they did when they were part of the Norfolk 17 experience earlier in the school year. A time of healing? Yes. The City of Norfolk really stepped up to teach our current students the value of an education- and how ALL these folks treasured being able to go to school, and learn lessons that have lasted a lifetime. When you view the video, it barely captures the excitement of the high school senior within each senior citizen. Any time you bring the generations together, there are opportunities to dispel myths... Really nice event.
To Ivy22
Yes, I did read the article. I was illustrating the fact that a lack of a diploma from these schools did not adversely affect the students. I know that they got their diplomas elsewhere and went on to live productive lives. I just find it pointless to at this point in time to award them honorary diplomas. I think a more meaningful gesture would be to issue a formal aoplogy from any surviving administrators responsible for implementing the racist policies that kept these people out of school to begin with.
I guess I just fail to understand the emotional attachment people develop toward the schools which they have attended. The fact that I have earned a degree is what is important, not the name of the school on said degree.
Things didn't get better after 1959,just worse.
Anything I post about about what happened in Norfolk city schools after 1959 is deleted by the Pilot. I sincerely doubt the editor of the Pilot was a Norfolk school student back then and has no clue what went on after forced integration. I know it is the job of the Pilot to paint a rosey picture of the schools back then,but they should interview people like me who witnessed the rudeness towards the teachers and faculty from these kids bused in from the projects. I'm just glad my father was a teacher at Norview back then and set those kids straight about their rude behavior not being tolerated.
Lost Class of '59
As a GHS class of '59 member thank you to all of you who congratulated us in finally getting our diplomas. For the people who questioned the importance of this event my response to you is that you had to have lived through it to understand. Many of us went on and received diplomas from other schools. Many of us have master degrees and above, but there always has been a deep desire to receive a diploma from a high school which we had attended for three years,but were not allowed to graduate from. I was not able to attend the ceremony today due to travel distance but believe me I was there in spirit with a tear in my eye. I will finally get my diploma Saturday night at our 50th reunion GO COMETS !!
rb-thompson, you my friend, are pointless
Did you even read this? Some obviously went on to schools in other cities to get their diplomas but really wanted to graduate from their own NORFOLK alma mater. Did you miss the part about the gentleman who went on to UVA? Could he have done that with no diploma? Seems like you're the one who needs to go back to school. Read!!!!!! By the way, congratulations to all who finally received their NORFOLK diploma.
Never a good idea to comment without reading the story!
RB - The students did indeed receive diplomas from other schools and they gave examples of at least one who went to college.
What were they doing in the mean-time?
50 years, and none of them bothered to get a real diploma or even a GED? Did any of these people manage to make it into a college within the last 50 years?
I find that hard to believe. This whole honorary diploma business is pointless.
In 1959 I was 3, oblivious to the issues...
And in 1974, when I graduated, these fine people were 33 and living their lives as they should have, "lost class" or not. Regardless of color, background, socioeconomic status, the lost class had an impact on, not only their own class but every class before them and after them. Now, at age 68, the lost class graduates have finally gotten their diplomas. What a wonderful legacy you will pass down to your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Congratulations!!!!!