Location: NC 45 at Hyde County courthouse in Swan Quarter
County: Hyde
Original Date Cast: 2018
In rural Hyde County, on North Carolina’s Inner Banks and the Pamlico Sound, the African American community protested how the white-controlled Hyde County Board of Education handled school desegregation during the mid-to-late 1960s. The black community considered the board’s actions to be a one-way integration that disregarded the historic and cultural heritage of the African American communities, leadership, and schools. The school board members sought to expand the consolidated whites-only Mattamuskeet School, close the two traditionally black schools, and consolidate all three schools.
For African Americans, this would have meant extensive travel to schools, abandonment of shared and longstanding educational experiences, and potential job loss for black educators. Their protest of the plan, known locally as the “Hyde County Movement,” called for a more inclusive approach for integrated plans, African Americans in the county boycotted the public schools for the entire 1968-1969 academic year.
After the Brown v. Board of Education decision (1954), Hyde County constructed black schools for grades 1-12. Schools were still segregated, however. After the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare could remove educational funds from non-compliant school systems. So, Hyde County worked to undo the existing dual school system. Black leaders, however, were not invited to the planning meetings. After 1964, the school board’s plan was to consolidate all county schools into the new Mattamuskeet School, thereby closing the two black schools. The African American community’s voice had been absent from the proceedings.
Taking matters into their own hands and with a bottom-up approach to reform, local blacks formed a Committee of 14. These six men and eight women—two people from each black Hyde County religious denomination—took the initiative to learn more concerning school reorganization plans. After a slow start, they sought the advice of an initially reluctant Golden Frinks, the state field director of Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). They planned long marches from one community to another in the county. The marches garnered little media attention, however. So, blacks changed tactics. They started sit-ins at the Hyde County Board of Education offices.
In November 1968 violence erupted when the courthouse in Swan Quarter was stormed, vehicles damaged, and school property trashed. Tear gas was used on demonstrators. A single Highway Patrolman was assigned to Hyde County, but an additional eleven were brought in from neighboring counties. Seventy-one teenagers were arrested in a single day. To stop the protests and discourage school absenteeism, the county welfare department threatened to stop benefits for thirty-one families. Later, another protest—approximately 150 students—was dispersed.
The protests attracted widespread media attention, and Hyde County events were deemed to have national significance. National SCLC leadership, including Ralph Abernathy, visited Hyde County. A March on Raleigh was planned for February 1969. That month, approximately six hundred marchers arrived in the state capital.
The new superintendent wanted a solution as quickly as possible. There were two plans. Plan One involved closing the two black schools and transferring students to the centralized Mattamuskeet School. Another component of Plan One was a $500,000 bond to help expand the consolidated school to meet the county’s needs. Plan Two included using the two existing black schools as elementary schools and turning the Mattamuskeet School into a high school. The advantages were minimal costs, shorter bus routes, and the separation of elementary and high school students.
The respective white and black communities met to decide a course for the 1969-1970 school year. This was the turning point. Protests were postponed until after the election. In the end, Hyde Countians, with a four-to-one margin, defeated the bond referendum. As a result, Plan Two was implemented. The result was more inclusive decision making, shorter bus routes, and integration of the schools.
References:
David S. Cecelski, Along Freedom Road: Hyde County, North Carolina and the Fate of Black Schools in the South (1994)
Arthur Macewan, “Power Concedes Nothing” a review of Along Freedom Road, in The Radical Teacher, No. 48 (Spring 1996): 27-30