Remember the Titans high school graduates its final class under its segregationist name
Posted by
prayformojo (aka mayhem)
Jun 13 '21, 09:19
|
It was in a meeting of the Black Student Union at T.C. Williams High School that Lorraine Johnson first learned her school was named for a fervent segregationist who fought to keep out students like her.
On Saturday, squishing across a wet lawn in her graduation gown, Johnson was one of the last students to hold up a diploma with the words “T.C. Williams” on the front. She and other students fought successfully over the past year to change the Northern Virginia institution’s name to simply Alexandria City High School.
“Your class has taken on big ideas and challenged long-standing beliefs and traditions, especially some of those right here in Alexandria,” said Superintendent Gregory C. Hutchings Jr. at Saturday’s ceremony, held in a public park just outside the school grounds. “You all have left an indelible mark on the city of Alexandria and the next generation of students.”
|