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49 Years Later, A Teacher Reflects On Integrating An All-White School In Miami-Dade

Nearly 50 years later, Young is still in touch with some of her students at Pinecrest Elementary
Courtesy Freddie Young
Nearly 50 years later, Young is still in touch with some of her students at Pinecrest Elementary

The iconic images of school integration show determined black students making their way through jeering white crowds, just to take their seats in class. And at the head of those classes, teachers who were part of a workforce every bit as segregated as the student body.

After the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education, teachers represented another, lesser-known, facet of the decades-long push for integrated schools.

 

Dr. Freddie Young
Dr. Freddie Young

Dr. Freddie Young spoke with WLRN about her experience integrating then all-white Pinecrest Elementary school in 1968. Young spent more than 40 years as a teacher and principal, 35 of them in Miami-Dade. She became principal of Ethel Beckford/Richmond Elementary school, and retired in 2003, just a year after the court order mandating desegregation in Miami-Dade was finally lifted.

You can listen to the conversation here: 

 

Freddie Young with colleagues at Pinecrest Elementary School
Credit Courtesy Freddie Young
Freddie Young with colleagues at Pinecrest Elementary School

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