School yearbooks are not usually scenes
of political actions or protest, but the JCHS Pow Wow was an exception. Though
the controversy took place before 1950, it shows the ways in which racial
equality was always an important issue in the Geary County School system.
While Junction City did not have
segregated schools in the 1900s, there was still racial inequality when it came
to how students were treated. The story behind the Pow Wow integration reveals
how unjust practices were changed. The process was slow because people accepted
the status quo. This story is a case study of how injustices were ended when
the will was there.
The story begins with Lois
Grimes, Class of 1924. Her parents moved here in 1912 so that Lois and her
sister, Francis, could attend racially integrated schools. In the class of
1924, Lois Grimes was only black student among the 68 graduates. Although Lois'
portrait appeared in the middle of her classmates, she recalls that she had to
walk at the end of the line at the commencement ceremony.
By 1930, the Pow Wow showed the
ethnic diversity in Junction City High School. The 9th Cavalry returned from the
Philippines a few years before, bringing Filipino and half-Filipino families
with them. Among the pictures on the first page of the senior section were
those of Lawrence Swisher, who was black, and Clara Cervera, who was Filipina.
The pictures weren't alphabetized, African-American, European-American, and
Filipino students were mixed together.
In 1931 the arrangement changed
drastically. They were alphabetized except for the three black students, who
appeared at the end of the senior pages. Although there is nothing written to
explain this development, there is a story that the policy was started by a
member of the board of education who was unhappy that his daughter's picture
appeared between Swisher and Cervera. This cannot be confirmed, but there was
girl on that page with the same last name as a member of the board.
 |
| This is from the 1931 Pow Wow. The white seniors at the end of the alphabet, Marvin York and Helen Zumbrumm are followed by the three black seniors, Annie Jackson, Marguerite Taylor, and Merrill Taylor in the 1931 JCHS Pow Wow. |
For the rest of the 1930s, Pow
Wows showed only one black student in each class. All were women and, with one
exception, all appeared at the end of the class list. The exception was the
class of 1935, where the lone black woman was listed alphabetically. There is
no surviving documentation as to why it changed back to the segregated pattern
in 1937.
In the Class of 1943 the black
students were activists. They were mostly children of Ninth Cavalrymen who were
going overseas. They felt both pride and solidarity. Seven were on the football
team and one of these, Arthur Fletcher, was on the Kansas All-State team. While
they contributed strongly to Junction City’s winning football season, black
students were not permitted to participate in all extracurricular activities.
They were not selected for the Pow Wow staff, for example.
Given this situation, all 13
black members of the Class of 1943 determined to boycott the Pow Wow. They
agreed not to submit their class pictures to the senior section. A casual
observer looking at the Pow Wow would think there were no black students in the
class, though some appeared in group pictures for sports teams.
From 1944 to 1947 there were
various devices to make it appear that the black students were not segregated. For
instance, the pages were laid out with pictures in triads. The black students
weren't at the end, they were clustered together but never in a triad with
white students. The 1948 Pow Wow marked a return to simple alphabetization,
with all students appearing in order, regardless of race.
Interviews with two
African-American members of the 1948 Pow Wow staff provide insights into the changes
that had taken place between 1943 and 1948. Patricia Barksdale Heron recalled
that things began to open during her senior year. It was her impression that
some of the teachers got together and quietly decided to give all students an
even chance. This meant that three black students interested in the Pow Wow
were named to the staff, including Heron.
According to Starkey Caver,
another black student on the Pow Wow staff, the change did not take place
without a struggle. Starkey’s idea of effective action was quite different from
that of the Class of 1943. He believed that the key to change was to enlist the
support of his white classmates. His recollection was that black and white
students on the Pow Wow staff were united in the desire to end the unequal
treatment of the past. Though they met some resistance from their adviser and
the school administration, the students continued to insist on justice.
Thenceforth the discriminatory practices in the
Pow Wow and at commencement were ended. A few weeks after graduation on July
26, 1948, President Harry S Truman signed order No, 9981 establishing racial
integration in the armed forces. Junction City and Fort Riley were on a
continuing path to ever greater diversity and complexity.
