Essayists to Discuss Desegregation Movement in New Orleans

Pamphlet issued by the community organization Save Our Schools in 1960 and returned to the group by an irate segregationist.

On Tuesday, October 12th, the Amistad Research Center will host two featured essayists during the opening of the exhibition Through a Crowd, Bravely: The 50th Anniversary of Public School Desegregation in New Orleans. The event will begin at 6:00 pm. 

The program will feature essays by Southern University professors Dr. Clarence Holmes and Dr. Cynthia Levy. Dr. Levy’s essay will discuss the role of New Orleans’ Jewish community in the desegregation movement, especially around the time of the integration of William Frantz and McDonogh No. 19 elementary schools in November 1960. Dr. Holmes’ essay provides his personal remembrances of integrating Warren Easton Senior High School in 1968.

The Through a Crowd, Bravely exhibition will run from October 4 – December 22, 2010, in the exhibition gallery of the Amistad Research Center. The exhibition will feature materials from the Center’s archival, printed, and art collections that document not only the integration of the William Frantz and McDonogh No. 19 schools by Ruby Bridges, Gail Etienne, Tessie Prevost, and Leona Tate, but the events leading up to and beyond November 14, 1960. 

As part of its commemoration of the anniversary, the Amistad Research Center is partnering with the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the Louisiana State Museum/Civil Rights Museum Project, the U.S. Marshals Museum, and the Tulane University History Department for additional public events in November. Details on upcoming events are forthcoming. This exhibition and related events are funded in part by a grant from the Keller Family Foundation. 

 Posted by Christopher Harter

(From the Save Our Schools records, Amistad Research Center. Image may not be reproduced without permission.)