
{"id":20593,"date":"2011-09-01T12:27:08","date_gmt":"2011-09-01T16:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=20593"},"modified":"2011-09-01T14:42:19","modified_gmt":"2011-09-01T18:42:19","slug":"vickers-decision-remembered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2011\/09\/01\/vickers-decision-remembered\/","title":{"rendered":"Vickers decision remembered"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/a><strong>By Susan Dickson<br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CARRBORO \u00e2\u20ac\u201c In the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, where the importance of diversity is taught in classrooms and celebrated across campuses, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s difficult to imagine a time when all students weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t treated equally. But a short 50 years ago, when a 10-year-old black boy wanted to attend Carrboro Elementary School, then an all-white school, the school board denied his request, simply because of the color of his skin.<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_20620\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20620\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2011\/09\/01\/vickers-decision-remembered\/vickersforfront-3\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-20620\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/VickersForFront2.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"VickersForFront\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-full wp-image-20620\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/VickersForFront2.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/VickersForFront2-100x150.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/VickersForFront2-75x113.jpg 75w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/VickersForFront2-66x100.jpg 66w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20620\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A humble Stanley Vickers credits his parents as the ones who did the heavy lifting so that he could attend a previously all-white school. Photo by Alicia Stemper<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n<p>Aug. 4 marked the 50th anniversary of the landmark decision in the Vickers v. Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools case, and on Monday community members, elected officials and Stanley Vickers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that 10-year-old boy \u00e2\u20ac\u201c came together to celebrate and commemorate the decision, in which U.S. District Court Judge Edwin Stanley ruled that Vickers was entitled to admission to a previously all-white school. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The whole idea of having this celebration or commemoration \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 is to make sure that we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t forget,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Eddie Davis, chair of Inclusive North Carolina and organizer of the gathering. <\/p>\n<p>In 1959, Vickers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 parents requested that he be allowed to attend Carrboro Elementary, which was closer to the family\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Carrboro residence than the all-black Northside Elementary School. The school board voted 4-2 to deny the Vickers family\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s application, with UNC School of Law Dean Henry Brandis and First Baptist Church Rev. John Manley dissenting. Brandis later resigned from the board in protest.  <\/p>\n<p>Durham lawyers Conrad Pearson and William Marsh, along with Thurgood Marshall, filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the Vickers family, and Stanley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision came down in 1961, paving the road for integration across the southeastern United States. <\/p>\n<p>That fall, Vickers, along with fellow black student Ted Stone, entered a previously all-white junior high school, while Sheila Bynum \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00c2\u00a0now Sheila Bynum Florence \u00e2\u20ac\u201c became the first black student at Chapel Hill High School.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When most of this was going on, I was pretty young, and I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand the significance of it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Vickers said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I really had the easy job in it. My parents said, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcHere\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where you go to school \u00e2\u20ac\u201c just go there and don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t embarrass yourself.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>But Vickers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 job \u00e2\u20ac\u201c along with that of Stone and Florence and integration pioneers across the country \u00e2\u20ac\u201c certainly wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t easy. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was the children who had to be most brave, who had to be on the front lines, who had to put their physical well-being on the line,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mayor Mark Chilton said. <\/p>\n<p>Vickers admitted that he did have a tough time, but that there were bright spots. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When we went to that school, not everyone was our friend, but not everyone was our enemy,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Vickers said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Maybe they weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t our friends, but they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t abuse us and they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mistreat us when they had the opportunity.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>As the lone black student at Chapel Hill High School, Florence shared Vickers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 experience. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was exciting,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Florence said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was so hard getting there.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Despite the excitement, the road wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t easy for her at CHHS. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I felt very alone, scared,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Florence said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what to expect.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153At lunchtime, I had to sit alone,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. In biology class, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was the last one to get picked for a lab partner.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>But she continued to go to school. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I made my mom proud because she had worked so hard to get me in,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. <\/p>\n<p>Florence said eventually, her mother called women she knew with daughters at Chapel Hill High and asked them if their daughters would be friends with her. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153After a while, things got better,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. By the time she graduated in 1965, other black students had joined her as the first integrated graduating class at Chapel Hill High.<\/p>\n<p>Robert Campbell, a leader in the local black community, commended the pioneers for their actions. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153To actually have been a part of that struggle as we began, and to see where we are today \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 because a young man had a desire to venture out to bring forth changes that would benefit not just himself but a whole community, you have to commend him and his family for the work they have done,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Campbell said. <\/p>\n<p>Vickers said he was humbled.  <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153People can make the way for you, but you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to walk the path,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Heroes are ordinary people who take one more step.&#8221;<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_20595\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20595\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2011\/09\/01\/vickers-decision-remembered\/vickersforjump\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-20595\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/VickersForJump.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"VickersForJump\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-20595\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/VickersForJump.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/VickersForJump-113x75.jpg 113w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/VickersForJump-150x99.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/VickersForJump-100x66.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20595\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sheila Bynum, Stanley Vickers and Ted Stone. Photo by Alicia Stemper<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, where the importance of diversity is taught in classrooms and celebrated across campuses, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s difficult to imagine a time when all students weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t treated equally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-schools","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20593"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20625,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20593\/revisions\/20625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}