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The wounds of 10 of the first 19 African-American students to integrate Orangeburg School District 5 schools are deep, but their spirits are stronger.

Some cried, some laughed and some stood in deep thought at how they made it through their assimilation into a previously all-white school system 10 years late.

The 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision which forced the desegregation of public schools had already been handed down 10 years before Orangeburg School District 5 opened its doors to blacks in 1964.

The Orangeburg Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people gave some of the black students a chance to share what they went through in forging the path for others who soon came afterward.

"We are happy to have the opportunity to bring before you these young people. It is wonderful to see them, and we certainly appreciate them taking the time to come be with us," said Liz Zimmerman Keitt, chairperson of the Orangeburg NAACP, during a Saturday afternoon press conference held in the educational building of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church.

The black students who were present that had integrated their respective schools in the former Orangeburg School District Five 42 years ago included: Brenda Adams, now Brenda Adams Collins, fourth grade, at Mellichamp Elementary; Arthur Rose Jr., sixth grade, at Ellis Avenue Elementary; Theodore Adams Jr. and Tyrone Robinson, ninth grade; Tyrone Dash, Jacqueline Leona Ferguson, now Jacqueline Leona Secuma Romano, 10th grade; Evelyn Dash, now Evelyn Cunningham, 11th grade and Alice Smith, now Alice Smith Zimmerman, Jacqueline Dash, now Jacqueline Dash Zeigler, and Ann Marie Thomas, now Ann Marie Thomas Brown, 12th grade, at Orangeburg High School.

During her first year, Romano said she recalled white students spitting in her lunch and having her own white teachers threatened by other white students for teaching her. While the atmosphere "toned down" the second year, she said there was a lesson to be learned.

"If you have a child, train him up in the way of the Lord in appreciating a human being ... we are all children of God," she said, noting that having her English teacher turn the book away from her while teaching the others did not deter her from learning.

"I was taught to listen and learn ... so it didn't matter where she put the book. She could have put it under her desk, but as long as her mouth was open ... I could hear and take notes, which I did," Romano said.

Collins recalled that she faced challenging even eight years after entering the district as fourth grader. In preparing for graduation as a senior, a guidance counselor told her she didn't have the aptitude to finish college and recommended that she attend a technical school to obtain a trade instead.

"My parents would not let me buy into that. I applied to Johnson C. Smith University, and they admitted me with a full academic scholarship which she had to present to me when awards day came around," said Collins, who went to graduate and then earn a master's degree from South Carolina State University. She is now a teacher in Orangeburg School District 5.

Collins said the NAACP's invitation to the press conference caused her to reflect upon her experience 42 years ago. She even penned an original poem entitled "For the Greater Good," which she read. The poem included an admonishment to students today to not take their privileges for granted, particularly since she and her peers had to struggle so hard "for the greater good."

Zimmerman was nearly overcome with emotion in describing how her family had to make her own grandfather, who had waited so long to see her graduate alongside her white peers, stay home from her graduation out of fear for his safety.

"He didn't have a chance to see that," she said, noting that she remembered starting school amidst a sea of police officers, but that there were some teachers who made her experience more bearable.

She said in coming back to Orangeburg and noticing the minimal amount of white students at its only public high school, Orangeburg-Wilkinson High, lets her know that more needs to be done to bring the races together.

"We've come a great way, but we still got a long way to go," she said.

Dash, who does consulting work for SCSU, said he found that of the three consolidated districts in Orangeburg, two are 90 percent black. Of his experience, he said it made him realize how strong he was and had to be along with recognizing the importance of God in his life.

Brown, a retired school teacher of 30 years, said her good memories largely outweighed the bad, but she recalled the giggling, whistling and name-calling that came with her experience. She said the teaching of her faith and family carried her through.

"I was always taught to love, not hate, and to do what was right. To God be the glory for all that he has done," Brown said.

Adams and Robinson said while their and their peers' experiences sometimes get lost amidst the attention which the Orangeburg Massacre receives, they are no less important to the Orangeburg civil rights movement.

"Today is really too little, too late ... (but) it's better late than never. I don't think anyone could have endured what we endured. It took all of us to get us through," said Adams, who recalled the spitting and sitting on tacks placed in his seat. He thanked his "fellow warriors" for coming to share their experiences.

Robinson said he wished students of today knew as much about their history as he and his peers knew about theirs. "The struggle never ends," he said.

Zeigler said, "God has reminded me over the years that he was our shepherd, and he kept us to this point."

Willie Thompson, the first black teacher to teach at Orangeburg High in 1966 upon integration, regarded all 19 of the black students as heroes.

"I spoke to a number of them ... and they indicated that certain teachers were very hard on them. They ran into quite a few obstacles, but they came in and underwent that pressure in order to make it easier for others. They definitely were heroes," Thompson said.

The 10 former students were formally honored during the NAACP's Freedom Fund banquet at Williams Grand Lodge following the press conference. The Rev. Charles White Jr., national director of NAACP field operations, served as guest speaker.

White, who also considered the 19 students heroic leaders and "pioneers in the movement," said the public school system has largely remained unchanged in terms of integration.

"Some of them are more segregated today then they were in the days immediately following the Brown decision. That's why we must continue to voice our objections to vouchers and charter schools," White said.

He said there must also be a commitment among young people to become leaders in the movement and an increased commitment among organizations to continue the fight for political and social equality.

"I think we need it (the NAACP) now more than ever before. We are calling on people to join our ranks on the renewed attack on basic civil rights and civil liberties," he said.

T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 804-533-5534. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com

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