September marks 60 years of desegregation at the Lower Merion School District in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
The "Moment of Integration" looks at the history of the desegregation plan in Lower Merion and the closing of the Ardmore Avenue Elementary School in 1963.
Ardmore Avenue School was one of the first schools in the district when it was built in the late 1800s.
Wendell Holland, Esq., who is Black, was a student at Ardmore Avenue School when the Board of School Directors decided to send the students to other schools after they closed the elementary school in 1963.
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"The reality was that bussing and integration was forced public policy and the community had to live with it," he said.
He described his experience at Ardmore Avenue School as lovely and tight-knit. All of the students lived close by and walked to the school. Familiarity was a cornerstone of the community.
The teachers at the school were mostly white and near the end of their teaching careers, and the quality of the education wasn't of the same quality in comparison to the other schools in the Lower Merion district.
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Holland and his colleague Michael Antonoplos, who is white, spoke to NBC10 and shared the story of their community during this historic transition period.
The Civil Rights Movement leading up to this moment
Seventy years ago in 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on the landmark decision "Brown v. Board of Education" that established segregation in schools as unconstitutional.
This was followed by the Little Rock Nine in 1957 when a group of African-American high school-aged students enrolled at an all-white public school in Little Rock, Arkansas.
These students were faced with protesters who yelled at them and threw stones. To fight off the governor's attempts to block the Little Rock Nine, President Dwight D. Eisenhower called the National Guard to escort them into the school.
A few years later in August of 1963 a million people joined the rally known as the March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
Meanwhile, in 1963, the NAACP made it clear that the Ardmore Avenue Elementary School must close because it was "separate but unequal." The Lower Merion School Board heard from parents on both sides of the argument before ultimately deciding to shut the school down in August.
Then, November of 1963 saw the assassination of President John F. Kennedy as he rode in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas.
"All of this grown-up stuff was happening around us kids, but I don't think we realized we were guinea pigs in the educational experiment that the Lower Merion school board adopted," Holland told NBC10.
Stepping into the unknown
When the Board of School Directors voted to close Ardmore Avenue Elementary School in August of 1963 there was a very short turnaround for the community and school to prepare as the new school year started in September.
Holland told NBC10 that the PTA of Ardmore Avenue School felt helpless as the students moved to their new schools.
"What happened in Little Rock was not unlike what was happening in Ardmore. The difference was Little Rock involved high school and Ardmore involved elementary school," Holland said.
Other options were discussed to try and keep the Ardmore Avenue School open, but this public policy decision ultimately made a huge impact on everyone in the entire district. From students to teachers to bus drivers, Holland explained that every person was faced with this new reality.
"It was a pretty difficult event but it had widespread effects," Holland said.
Holland was moved to Wynnewood Road School (now known as Torah Academy) and he explained what it was like starting at his new school. He said there was an element of fear as he and his classmates stepped into the unknown.
Bussing was not available for the former Ardmore School students. Holland's walk was no longer just a couple of blocks away as he had to walk further to get to his new school. When he first stepped through the front door of Wynnewood Road School he said the steps were intimidating as if he were walking up the steps to the Supreme Court.
He and his friends found themselves in trouble on the very first day at their new school. They were used to playing games like kickball and tackle football on the concrete parking lot of Ardmore Avenue School. When they saw the grass field at Wynnewood Road School, they excitedly broke into a game of tackle football which they later found out from the principal was not allowed.
Holland met Michael Antonoplos on the first day of school in homeroom. The two went on to play football together through high school and remain close friends to this day.
Lower Merion is known as one of the wealthiest communities along the Main Line.
"It changed the alchemy, the DNA, of Lower Merion Township from a school standpoint, and that really was what I look at as the single most important impact," Antonoplos said.
Other than a handful of times when the N-word was used, Holland said the transition was uneventful with no major incidents.
"We made more friends and were surrounded by more goodness than hate which is a good feeling," he said.
The children impacted by this integration were young and still developing. They didn't have strongly formed prejudices, so as the new students entered their new school they were welcomed by the classmates at Wynnewood Road School.
"What really made it work was the kids. The kids made it work because they wanted it to work. No one forced them to do anything," Antonoplos said. "And we didn't know any better."
What we can learn from this moment
Holland told NBC10 that integration as well as diversity work and that Lower Merion is better now because of the desegregation process.
Holland believes that teaching everyone the importance of education is what will give the traditionally disadvantaged the tools to be successful and do well.
Lower Merion School District unanimously passed a resolution on September 5th, 2023 honoring the impact of the Moment of Integration. The resolution reads in part, "The Lower Merion School District Board of Commissioners finds it fitting and proper to honor the legacy of desegregation and the Moment of Integration 50th Anniversary observance, and the lessons learned from both, to accord them their rightful place in District history, and forever be guided by their lessons."
"I've been a front-row witness to the civil rights movement and integration for the last 60 years," Holland said. "I've found that when done properly, it's about as American as apple pie."
