OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — The Oak Ridge community is celebrating the 68-year anniversary of the first public school in the southeast to desegregate.
The celebration will be held at the future location of the planned Scarboro 85 Monument and Historical Interpretive Site, according to a release. The program is said to include a short service, choirs, and poetry in remembrance of the landmark achievement in American history.
On Sept. 6, 1955, 85 Black students from the Scarboro community integrated Oak Ridge High School and Robertsville Junior High School. It was a controversial idea, envisioned at least a year before the Supreme Court settled Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954.
Some argued that the Brown decision would lead to the ending of public schools in the southeast and that southern states would switch their public education system to private schools.
Later, three Scarboro 85 basketball players were the first to break the color barrier in Southeastern public school sports. However, other schools sometimes refused to play Oak Ridge if the team brought Black players, forcing them to stay home during away games.
A scholastically high-achieving Scarboro 85 student, Archie Lee, was the first Black student admitted to the National Honor Society in the Southeast, according to a release.
At graduation, because of his high grades, Lee received a letter from UT inviting him to interview for enrollment. But was heartbroken when he showed up at the interview and was immediately turned away because he was Black.