In the third of a five-part series, WMRA's Randi B. Hagi speaks with two of the people who, as children, broke the color barrier at Venable Elementary School in Charlottesville.
Sandra Wicks Lewis was born in 1949 in Charlottesville. Her father worked as a pharmacy assistant at the University of Virginia hospital, and her mother ran her own beauty salon. Lewis has fond memories of her childhood in the city. She attended first and second grade at the all-Black Jefferson Elementary School.
SANDRA WICKS LEWIS: My parents were friends with the teachers, and many … of the teachers attended my church and lived in my neighborhood. The school was a bit small for the number of students, but the playground was large.
She was one of the child plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit the NAACP had filed against the Charlottesville School Board, which had refused to admit 10 Black students to Venable Elementary School and two to Lane High School. They became known as the "Charlottesville Twelve."
Governor J. Lindsay Almond closed both schools on September 19, 1958 to prevent integration.
CHARLES ALEXANDER: … our first grade actually was spent in the administration building behind Venable Elementary School.
Charles E. Alexander, also known by his entertainer name, Mr. Alex-Zan, was another child plaintiff in the case. He was two grades behind Lewis, and so his first school experience was in a makeshift classroom set up for the Charlottesville Twelve.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Federal Judge John Paul's integration order in January of 1959, but also accepted the Charlottesville School Board's request to wait until September to enact it. So it was seven months after schools in Warren County, Arlington, and Norfolk were desegregated when Lewis and Alexander walked up the steps to Venable.
Lewis was the only Black student in the fourth grade class.
LEWIS: … and very self-conscious about that fact. The kids were somewhat friendly. Some more than others. One sent me a note with the n-word, which I ignored, and didn't tell anyone … I didn't want the student punished. I just didn't want to draw that kind of attention. Which was kind of how I played the whole experience.
Alexander said he was excited about school.
ALEXANDER: At seven years old, coming from a loving family, a lot of what was passed on to me is kindness, the thirst for learning, and just being nice to others. And I think I had – even back then, I smiled a lot. So I think that may have deflected some of the anger or noise or what have you.
Interestingly, Alexander and Lewis each had an older brother who stayed in the all-Black schools. Neither of them questioned their parents' decisions to send them to Venable.
LEWIS: I would assume, knowing my parents, that what they wanted for me … was an integrated society, and a society where we were equally treated. And I do feel that they thought that the children were very important in breaking that cycle of segregation … The children had to learn how to live together, to become adults that learned how to live together and be inclusive.
Lewis said she didn't know how virulently many white people had opposed integration in Charlottesville until she got older.
LEWIS: Charlottesville was not like Little Rock, Arkansas, I'll say that. But there was a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. One of the plaintiffs that was a high school student had a cross burned in their front yard … her father was also the president of the NAACP at that time.
Lewis was an honor roll student, and over the years, she grew more confident and got involved in the choir and drama club in high school. Alexander played basketball, but he said he was barred from the varsity team for making waves among the African American students – like when he organized a walkout to demand Black history courses.
ALEXANDER: So why was I so militant and defiant … I will own that! I had a big afro and barely could get my high school cap on my head, and didn't stand at the graduation at University of Virginia Hall.
Alexander graduated in 1970. He then attended Allen University, got involved in the Black Power movement in Greensboro, North Carolina, and then lived in Richmond for many years before returning to Charlottesville. He is now an educator and motivational speaker, and has written a book titled The Skin is Just the Cover.
Lewis went on to become one of the first African American women to graduate from UVa's College of Arts & Sciences. She later earned her MBA and had a career in finance. She's been married for 53 years to the UVA student she met while in high school.
LEWIS: I do feel that everything that I am today, it really came from Charlottesville. And it came from both the African American community and the integrated community.
As a way of giving back, Lewis has established scholarship funds for Charlottesville high schoolers and UVA students.
