Black Lives Next Door: Student Voices Meets School Silence

I am a part in the black lives next door research project. My research this summer was on the desegregation and post integration era In Fairfax County public schools. the page that I will be presenting today covers instances where the concerns of racial inequalities voiced by black students were often not listened to by school staff or the school board. Other research That I have done this summer includes the evaluation of a guidebook that the School board produced to help ease racial tensions in school. Another Part of my research was the remembrance of the Fairfax Rosenwald school and the 11 oaks school.

Hello, My name is Rachel Amon I am a part in the black lives next door research project. My research this summer was on the desegregation and post integration era In Fairfax County public schools. the page that I will be presenting today covers instances where the concerns of racial inequalities voiced by black students were often not listened to by school staff or the school board. Other research That I have done this summer includes the evaluation of a guidebook that the School board produced to help ease racial tensions in school. Another Part of my research was the remembrance of the Fairfax Rosenwald school and the 11 oaks school. To start: The Fairfax County public school system officially desegregated starting the fall school year of 1965. This page will explore instances where Back student voiced concerns about their schools that were either dismissed or overlooked by administration and the school board. In late May of 1967, a panel of four teenagers from the Vienna teen council asked the school board to create policies to help prevent further racial incidents in the county schools. One problem that a black student named Jerry Thomas told the school bord about instances of racial slurs that were directed towards black students. Katherine Harris a student Langley high school asked the school board to create a training program which would focus on an integrated approach rather than a desegregation approach. She wanted this program to include all teachers in school administrators. The board was not very receptive to the proposal, one board member spoke about how these problems were the responsibility of school principals not the school board. This next section it’s from the October 1973 issue of the Fairfax school bulletin. There was an article was written about school discipline and it gave a peek into a black student experience with unequal discipline in their school. The student recounts specific examples of fellow peers being treated more fairly. In another article from the County School bulletin, it writes about the black cultural alliance at Fort hunt high school this was a club created by the school’s black students. the article writes about how extracurricular activities that were a part of national organizations in which members voted on perspective members enabled racial exclusion. So black students created this group to not only provide community but events and activities that might not have been offered to them by the school. One instance where racial tension reached a breaking point was at Herndon high school on October 27th, 1974. The fight escalated to 70 student’s afternoon classes had to be cancelled and school was closed the following day. Reston black focus which was an African American community organization evaluated the fight is just another instance of the systemic problems of race relationships in county schools. their education committee created a list of problems that the school was having and proposed them to the school board. One of the biggest problems was an understaffed faculty in an overstuffed school. The last instance that I have on this page was a survey from 1977 in the survey high school students claim poor relations. some of the findings from the survey was that less than half the students believed administrator enforced discipline fairly. And that 60% of black students said they did not feel comfortable in their schools. what I thought was most shocking statistic was that 29% of black students said that they felt like failures, but half of the teachers said they thought black students felt like failures in school. In conclusion I think the value that our whole project brings silenced voices to light. It’s important that we were able to all uncover these stories that define not only George mason university but Fairfax county as well. Our findings help connect us to how we got to where we are today but more importantly our projects highlights why we must keep improving. I want to thank my mentors and fellow groups members for an outstanding research project. Thank you