Introduction

This chapter discusses the book’s central arguments. This book contends that the lines between public and private blurred as private schools became focal points of policy and spaces to avoid public school desegregation during the mid-twentieth century. Leaders of independent schools also blurred notions of public and private as they responded to multiple historical, political, social, and economic factors. The first black students to desegregate schools like Westminster in Atlanta were born and raised in the decade after the Brown v. Board of Education decision. This history posits that they courageously navigated such schools, drawing on their experiences in southern black segregated communities and in southern black segregated schools. Consequently, by virtue of their presence and actions, the first black students, including Michael McBay, Malcolm Ryder, Jannard Wade, and Wanda Ward, informed and influenced the Westminster school culture as it underwent institutional change. This narrative more forthrightly positions historically white elite schools or independent schools in the racial school desegregation narrative and contributes to an expanding understanding of black educational experiences in the third quarter of the twentieth century. While an institutional history, this book also chronicles, simultaneously, how the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) considered and advanced a focus on the recruitment of black students.

Epilogue

The book concludes by addressing how formal schooling for many African Americans is still an avenue for upward mobility in a U.S. society very much grappling with race and racism. The decisions African Americans make about schooling are not simple, and black families struggle with the many variables that affect black students’ academic, social, psychological, and emotional outcomes. As African Americans continue to face dilemmas about schooling options and endure gaps in access to equitable public schools, they sometimes believe that historically white private schools are the better choice for their children. Yet racism and racial matters transcend school type, and many are challenging school cultures, no matter the type of institution, to be more inclusive and diverse.

The Fearless Firsts

This chapter documents the first years of school desegregation at Westminster. By 1967, Westminster was a nationally known school whose alumni attended colleges and universities across the nation, but black students like Michael McBay and Dawn Clark endured overt racial harassment. Following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in April 1968, the pivotal and tumultuous decade concluded with increased protest in the nation at the same time that NAIS further advanced its recruitment efforts of black students. At Westminster, Malcolm Ryder, Ron McBay (Michael’s younger brother), Joia Johnson, and others enrolled also experienced racial harassment. The first black students, however, began to find their niches inside and outside the classroom. The school culture included increased volunteer efforts in black neighborhoods, celebrations of black workers in the yearbooks and newspapers, and visits by notable black individuals. Nevertheless, some school traditions reflecting racial subordination continued. The fearless firsts found their way by largely relying on their skills and talents, the support of their families, and the dedication of black workers and select white administrators and teachers.

Courageous Navigation

This final chapter examines the early 1970s. During the summer of 1970, Pressly spoke out against segregationist academies. Concurrently, black Mississippians challenged the tax-exemption status of segregated white private schools. As a result, the IRS required private institutions with tax-exempt status to establish non-discriminatory admissions policies. Under the leadership of William Dandridge, NAIS gave more attention to the quality of the black student experience in independent schools. Yet these changes could not fully interrupt the institutional and interpersonal racism that black students experienced in independent schools. As shifting politics occurred in Atlanta, the black students at Westminster immersed themselves in academics and extracurricular activities, and the students became even more important to the institution. Michael McBay, who had been harassed, became the activist, in the more traditional sense, among the black students. As Michael, Malcolm Ryder, Jannard Wade, and Wanda Ward graduated, new black students like Corliss Blount and Donata Russell joined Westminster. Altogether, thirty-five black students matriculated at Westminster during the first years of desegregation, and over half graduated in time as they individually succeeded, broke barriers, and courageously navigated an institution not originally created with them in mind.

The Blurring of Public and Private

In this chapter, the author analyses Westminster’s development and its adoption of an open admissions policy in 1965 alongside an increasing national effort to recruit black students to independent schools. The civil rights movement and possible changes in federal tax-exemption policies for their institutions captured the attention of independent school leaders, and these leaders then increasingly sought to diversify their student bodies through shifts in policies, practices, recruitment programs, and scholarship funds including A Better Chance and the Stouffer Foundation. Westminster became a southern exemplar of this national agenda with its striking and political announcement of tis open admissions policy, but the school was also emblematic of the pragmatic desegregation politics of Atlanta. The first black students—the fearless firsts—who excelled academically, applied to Westminster as public school desegregation progressed slowly. The Westminster that awaited them had an environment that included racist traditions and a segment of white students who raised important, nuanced questions about the issues of the time.

Contending with Change and Challenges

This chapter captures the development of Westminster in the late 1950s and early 1960s. By the late 1950s, Westminster’s student body had quadrupled, and the school was housed on the current West Paces Ferry Road campus. School leaders prepared for the possible closing of Atlanta Public Schools as black Atlantans called for desegregation in the face of oppositional state policies. As the civil rights movement increased in momentum, Westminster and other local schools, including Lovett and Trinity, received inquiries into their admissions policies from interracial organizations such as the Greater Atlanta Council on Human Relations and leading civil rights activists including the Kings, Abernathys, and Youngs, and black families such as the Rosses. Private school leaders worked to find a balance among multiple contexts and influences, including the enlarged federal presence in education and increased questions about federal tax-exempt status for private schools. Concurrently, a school culture at Westminster developed in ways that continued to reflect the “Old South” and included racist traditions while some white students earnestly debated and discussed the issues of the day.

The Inheritances of a New Elite Private School

This chapter chronicles how early decisions by Dr. William Pressly, founding president of Westminster, and other private school leaders began to blur the boundaries between public and private. Westminster, established in 1951, became a popular private school among white middle- and upper-class Atlantans. As Pressly became a leader of the National Council of Independent Schools, he began to negotiate multiple contexts, including that of the city of Atlanta, the state of Georgia, and independent schools nationally. Westminster’s early school culture reflected “Old South” sentiments and racist traditions, while at the same time the first black students to desegregate the school were being born. They would be raised in the segregated black communities and schools developed because of and in spite of Jim Crow. What they gained as young boys and girls would help equip them for experiences that they did not know lay ahead—desegregating and attending Westminster.