Hillside, Then and Now
Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 11:36AM
The hours I spent interviewing students who attended Hillside High School during the early years of integration were some of the most fascinating I've spent in my professional career.
I was struck most by their nuanced recollections. The popular narrative is that integration was full of angst, drama, violence and the threat of violence. Those elements existed at Hillside, but they didn't define the experience, at least according to the four folks I talked to.
Hillside is and was a proud institution, and many of the white students who arrived there — almost as guests in some ways — were intrigued and honored to be a part of it.
Some black students didn't want anything to do with the whites, several folks told me. This was, after all, when the Black Power movement was at its zenith, when outrage over decades of discrimination and abuse had triggered angry separatist sentiments.
But, again, that wasn't the dominanting force. I heard countless stories of black students reaching out a welcoming hand to their new white counterparts. Same went for administrators and teachers, who may have gone out of their way to welcome white students, some said, to avoid any of the aforementioned violence and tumult.
I've been thinking a lot about why the integration experience went so smoothly.
My best guess is that the large black population in Durham made some interaction among the races almost inevitable. Add to that that integration had started to a limited degree in elementary and junior high schools before 1969. By the time the first handful of white students completed their first year at Hillside, it had been 16 years since Brown v. Board. Folks had had enough time to get used to the idea of going to school with a different race.
But boy how that changed. Many of the folks I spoke with said white flight began in earnest by the mid-to-late 1970s, sending white families into the county to avoid integration. Today, Hillside has essentially resegregated.
Of the 1,317 students enrolled in the fall of 2008, only 24 were white. Twenty-four. 1.8 percent. Staggering. And it certainly conflicts with the picture painted by my interviewees, perhaps evidence that our sample was a bit skewed toward well educated progressives.
So we need more perspectives on Hillside, then and now. Alumni, we invite you to use our comment section to share your recollections of attending the school before, during and after integration.
Teachers, administrators, parents, current students and concerned citizens, we invite you to share your thoughts on Hillside as it is today and what, if anything, can or should be done to increase diversity at the school.
There's a great photo in the 1971 Hillside yearbook, following the first year of full-scale integration of Hillside.
It shows a large segment of the student body — black and white — mingling outside the school. The caption: "Here It Is In Black And White. They Said It Couldn't Be Done."
The question now is: Were they right?
Matt Dees
First, thanks to Kevin for his thoughtful write-up on both our cover story and the debate over the next Durham high school.
I was struck by the comments of one Yohah Freemark, a white student who graduated from Hillside in 2004.
So I dropped Yonah a line and he promptly called me back. From Paris.
Yonah went onto Yale and now is on a research grant in Paris focusing on new urbanism. What a great way to start the conversation about Hillside today.
Yonah has mixed feeling about the racial disparity at Hillside.
He chose to go to Hillside (his family doesn't live in the district) for its marching band and IB program.
He said he received a top-flight education there, as evidenced by his academic and career achievements since.
"As far as I know, no one else in Durham Public Schools my senior year got into Yale," Yonah, 23, says.
"My education at Hillside was really great. It was my teachers teaching me. It wasn't my parents. I do not think I received an inferior education at all."
In fact, being in the extreme minority shaped Yonah's worldview in a profound way, in a sense enhancing the education he received.
What he learned and experienced there made him more concerned about issues of equality and social justice, "things that I wouldn't have been able to fully understand if I hadn't gone to Hillside."
"To a certain degree, [being in the minority] is kind of nice, because it gives you a completely different perspective about what society is. If you grow up in an all-white environment, you may have a very different and skewed perspective about what society is, what America is."
Yonah thinks the lack of white students at Hillside is more a source of shame for Durham's white community than for Hillside itself.
"I obviously think it's quite embarrassing," he says.
"It's sad the degree to which white people in Durham don't feel comfortable sending their kids to public schools. I think it is sad that people are so afraid of the consequence of being in the minority."
The issue of multicultural schools is near to Yonah's heart. His father was a leader in the effort to merge the city and county schools in the early 1990s, an effort aimed in large part at mitigating the consequences of white flight.
"When he was fighting to merge the schools back then, I don't think he thought this type of resegregation would happen so quickly," Yonah says of his father.
Another negative is that African-American students and others missed out on the kind of cultural understanding that so enriched Yonah's experience.
"The whole notion of a heterogeneous environment is great," he says.
"I wrote this paper on the creation of mixed-income housing development in New York. My interest in that stems from the fact that that kind of environment is ideal."
But as for his own experience, Yonah cherishes his time at Hillside.
"I just felt very accepted. It makes me very proud of what Hillside gave me."
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Reader Comments (15)
I have heard tales of the great Yonah. So the legend must be true.
I heard that senior Joey Page was on the rise as a very successful student. Not to the same extent as Yonah, but following in the footsteps.
Thank you Durham Magazine and Bull City Rising for really highlighting the positive products of the great Hillside High School. I am 2005 graduate of Hillside High School and 2009 graduate of UNC-Greensboro with a B.A. in Economics. This year I have thrown my name into the hat of Durham politics as a candidate for the Durham City Council. I have known Yonah (or Yonnie as we know him) since our middle school days at Shepard Middle School. He is a bright young man that embodies the spirit of Hillside through his academic and personal successes. I wish him continued success as he continues his studies and service to humanity.
I want to point out that Hillside has produced numerous accomplished individuals in addition to Mr. Freemark. As the Vice-President and eventual President of the UNCG Student Government Association, I had the privilege of working with the UNC Association of Student Governments ( the SGA governing body for the 16 UNC System Colleges & 1 UNC System High School). At the time of my participation, Mr. Derek Pantiel (a 2003 graduate of Hillside) had the distinction of serving as President of the UNC ASG- a position that provided him with a seat on the UNC Board of Governors and the opportunity to advocate on behalf of the over 200,000 students of the UNC System. He is currently a medical student at the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine. Then there are the numerous Hillside graduates that are serving our nation and working to improve education through Teach for America. Hillside graduates are architects, doctors, lawyers, teachers, police officers, students, organizers, activists, athletes, and so much more.
As the school song goes, "Hillside High, O Hillside High, we cherish thee with honor. Though someday we're far away, we'll praise thee with our hearts. We'll be true forever to a school so dear. You will live forever thru all eternity!"
Keep up the great work HORNETS! Your mark on humanity is, in fact, indelible.
--
Donald A. Hughes
C/O 2005
Hillside High School
As Donald Hughes has written, above, Hillside has a history of exceptional students and graduates. Perhaps with more celebrated alumni than any other Durham high school. Among the graduates of HHS was Pauli Murray, poet, lawyer and preist- who was an early activist for civil rights- of both non-whites and women. Her book Proud Shoes is being read by many book groups in Durham this year and murals of her have been painted on walls- including in downtown. The Durham community should be proud of all of the school's fine students and graduates.
Hear hear Anne! I hope that you are doing well. Almost everyday I drive past the mural across from the downtown YMCA and I'm reminded of the scholarship and book that I received in honor of Pauli Murray.
-Donald
I was in the first class (10th grade) when Hillside High School was integrated back in 1971. We did not have the problems that most schools in America faced in the deep south to Boston with the boycotts and violence. Most of this could be attributed to the fact that most of the blacks and whites that attended Hillside High School came from middle class to upper middle class families, where educational achievement was important. Most of the lower class students both black and white werre sent to Durham High School (formerly the all white High School in Durham). As a black student, I witness the positive effects of integration when for the first time we received new classroom text books, new equipment for the science labs, new band uniforms and instruments, they even built us a new bandroom. I also saw the negative side of integration where black teachers and counselors were replaced by young white females teachers who were working to help put their husbands through graduate school, law school, dental school and medical school at UNC, NC State and Duke. Most of these young white female teachers really didn't want to teach young black students and this was apparent in the classroom, they catered mostly to the white students. Most of the white students didn't appear to have any problems interacting with black students while at school but once they left the campus it was a totally different story. The only problem between the races that I encountered was during a Black History Month Celebration when a group of white students walked out during the program and said that they were not going to listen to "N" word history. There were no fights but heated words were exchanged and this was the start of the white flight out of Hillside High. Most of the whites that left moved from Forrest Hills to Hope Valley and sent their kids to the Durham County Schools or to private schools. I'm sad to see that 36 years since I graduated from Hillside High School that there are only 24 white students out of 1,317 students. This shows that America still has a major problem dealing with race even though we now have a black President. I'm glad to see that Yohah Freemark had the courage to attend Hillside High School and his experience there made him a better person and it didn't have a negative impact on him earning a degree from Yale. I just wish that more people will take the lead to wipe out the biggest sin facing America, RACISM.
Hi , I want to know if Hillside High School is having school tomorrow.? what you say ?
In my senior year (the class of 1971) I was assigned to Durham High School but I didn't want to go: so the first day of school I went to Hillside hoping that I could stay there. I did not want to be separted from my best friends.
Luckily for me; Durham High did not have a tailoring class so I signed up for tailoring. I could stay at Hillside.
Although there was some; I don't recall a lot of intermingling with black and white students. For the most part, we were tolerable towards one another. The white teachers that I had were fair and did not treat the white students any different from the black students. However, I found that some of the black teachers gave preferential treatment towards the white students.
I recall seeing one of the white students in my homeroom class with a briefcase filled with powdered drugs. That year was the first time I had ever seen drugs sold in school. His actions were reported but nothing was done about it as he continued to sell the drugs. If a black student was reported taking drugs; they were suspended and sometimes jailed.
Although I have many white friends today; I wish I could say that I made white friends back then; but I can't. Maybe if I had more than one year with white students; I would have an opportunity to know them better. However, I learned that the following year that most of the white students transferred to other schools and/or went to private schools. I guess they didn't want to be at Hillside no more than I wanted to be at Durham High. It wasn't a race things (at least not for me); I wanted to be in familiar surroundings.
Anyhow; I did enjoy my senior year and I am grateful for the experience.
i was in the first graduating integrated class at Hillside in 1971. I found it interesting that it was stated that the first integrated class was in 1970. I am sure that your facts were verified but having been a part of the history I do not remember it quite that way. My one year at Hillside High School was one that I will never forget. I remember that there were some white students that were afraid to go to Hillside and we saw the growth of the "Christian Schools" in Durham. I was always treated fairly by all teachers regardless of whether it was praise or discipline. Prof Alston was a legend at Hillside as the dean of boys and he handed out his brand of discipline only to those who needed it, both black and white. We were made to feel welcomed by most everyone but as with all new experiences, some people were slower to embrace the new concept. My sister entered Hillside in the fall of 1971 and she had a similar experience to mine. I would not trade my year at Hillside for anything. It helped prepare me for the rest of my life. Just getting to know Jeanne Lucas was worth it all. Thanks again for the article and bringing back some old memories.
I enjoyed reading the article and all these posts about Hillside. I was in the Class of '74, where I was among a relatively sizable group of white students (maybe 20% of the class). We knew we were part of a grand experiment, and just like the isolated African American kids who helped integrate Durham's elementary schools in the '60s, we felt like it was our responsibility to get it right and make it work. As another writer mentioned, many of our families were progressive thinkers and the African American families were some of the most prominent folks in town. Mr. Lucas and Mr. Alston and faculty like Mrs. Poole and Mrs. Lucas made sure it was a safe environment and that there was a place for all of us there. I always had the feeling that we white kids didn't change Hillside, but Hillside changed us by teaching us what it was like to become a minority. My experience was mostly good, and I remain friends with many classmates. In fact, we are planning the 35th reunion of our class right now -- go to hornetsalumni.ning.com for more information on the Sept 25 event.
When I went back to our 20th reunion, I realized that most of my classmates had gone on to graduate school (my friend and I, with our bachelor's degrees, were the oddballs). That was typical of the kind of graduates Hillside had back then, and it saddens me to see such a proud school always show up on the low-performing statistical list today. I've stayed in Durham and have been somewhat involved with Hillside, serving as an advisor for one of the school clubs for a couple of years, and I've always been impressed with the faculty, administrators, and kids whom I've met there. The new building is 1000 times better than the crumbling old school we went to, but the white flight and upper-middle class black flight was in full bloom by the time it came along. It saddens and frustrates me. It will not be easy for our community to "fix" the lagging test scores and graduation rates and reestablish Hillside as a premier educational option for black and white kids. I think it might be necessary to reinvent it, just as Durham High at its lowest point was reinvented as DSA. Those who will cry out in mourning when that happens need to look at how far we have come from the venerable HHS of their memories -- a fine school with a great reputation for excellence over many decades. I wish the new principal a lot of luck and a lot of community support, and hope that all alumni in the area will jump in and offer their assistance.
Your article was very well written. The cover caught my eye and the story engaged me as I am a student of Hillside legacy. I am glad that the story was presented in such a way that people could read and feel like they were there.
What the Durham community needs to recognize early is that the issues at Hillside are not going to go away overnight. Mr. Lassiter and his team of administrators, teachers, and other support staff are going to need time in order to get this done. Overwhelming change is not what our alma mater needs at this time. In order to solve a problem, you must get to the root of it.
Systematic change would be an awesome approach to begin with. Mr. Lassiter has a vision for the school that takes into consideration many issues that all of us have wanted to see addressed for a long time. He will make decisions that will not be popular with the community as a whole and that is okay. His approach in doing so though must be consistent, firm, and fair. Our new principal has been given the keys and we must allow him to drive the car.
I am extremely optimistic that the days of consistency will return to our alma mater. It has been a long time since we have had a principal that was there for a period of more than 5 years. While we do not make the decisions in these matters, we do have opportunities to let our voices be heard. Let our voices be used to impact positive change and not to destroy an individual for personal gain.
No school is perfect but our alma mater could be so much better. Hillside Pride bursts beyond those walls. It is an attitude, a swagger, that you graduated from an institution that not only gave you a quality education but a history lesson at the same time.
Our new principal should not be charged with restoring the pride because that starts with us. If we do our part, Mr. Lassiter can focus on other things to make Hillside the school that we all know it can be in time.
J. White, MBA
HornetsAlumni.com Site Creator
Hillside High School Class of 1994
http://www.hornetsalumni.ning.com
I was a 1971 graduate of HHS and one of the students in the "Black & White" picture......I loved Hillside then and I love it now. My whole immediate family sans 1 or 2 attended this great institution. During my senior year, I remember the white students who join our class as I remember good friends who were assigned to Durham High because of where they lived..........you see everyone on the south side of Lawson Street had to go to Hillside, those on the north side were assigned to Durham High (unless of course, your parents argued the issue).....that meant that folk who had been together since "diapers" at W.G. Pearson and Burton Elementary were split up..............at any rate, I saw no problems between whites and blacks..........what I did see is a mixing of interests, in sports, music, drama and yes in studies...........from Clark Poe and Van Blalock showing their basketball skills along with Ronald Scarborough, Wayne McKinnie, John Lucas, Oliver Bullock and the rest to excelling Student Council with Lonnie Hall, Larry Mangum and Gretchen Wilcher, keeping the beat in Mr. G's SWING SCHOOL and Mrs. Timberlake's choirs, we all had fun, black and white. Yes, I can remember rumors of "some folk smoking weed, laying out in the weeds (lawn) or up on the roof at the school.........again "black and white"..........................but my experience there was a good one.........yes good memories.
Thanks, all, for your thoughtful comments.
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