The Memphis 13 / Springdale Elementary School

The Memphis 13, also, Springdale Elementary School. . , Front , The first African-American students to enroll in Springdale Elementary were Deborah Holt and Jaqueline Moore. Both lived closer to Springdale than to the African-American school where they otherwise would have been assigned. Jacqueline Moore Christion remembered the difference in subject matter between her old school and Springdale. "Everything was more advanced than stuff I was doing at Hyde Park. They were way past that when I got to Springdale." She also found the students to be friendly. "I had two little girls who made me feel very welcome. We laughed and talked. It was really enjoyable." But John Holt, father of Deborah Holt, recalled a darker side. "We got hate mail with no return address. It said, 'So you got your little black girl going to school. She's still going to be black.'" His family's reaction? "It made us more determined." Also to be remembered are the parents of these students: John and Lille Holt, and Beatrice Moore. , Back , In implementing the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 decision outlawing school segregation by race, the Memphis Board of Education ultimately agreed in 1961 to a plan to integrate the schools. The Memphis Branch of the NAACP recruited 200 applicants, and 13 African-American first graders were selected to integrate four elementary schools. This phased-in approach, adding a grade per year, was regarded as the safest way to desegregate the schools. Without violence on October 3, 1961, the students enrolled in Bruce, Gordon, Rozelle, and Springdale Elementary schools. After opening day they were on their own. During the course of the year and those that followed, their social isolation and educational progress were left unmonitored. Despite their difficulties, these 13 "pint-sized pioneers" struck a fatal blow to school segregation and claimed their place in Memphis history.