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On September 4, 1957, sixteen-year-old Gus Roberts arrives at Central High School with his father. Hundreds of students stand on the front steps, watching.
Principal Ed Sanders welcomes Gus and his father and makes sure the crowd behaves peacefully. Gus goes to class.
The crowd at all-white Harding High School is angry and ready for trouble when 15-year-old Dorothy Counts arrives escorted by Dr. Edwin Thompkins, a family friend. She is greeted by an angry crowd. Even teachers at the school express their displeasure, some with words and some with silence.
1980 - Stevenson becomes the first black woman on the Charlotte school board.
May 30, 1963 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks at a convocation of the area's black high schools.
When Girvaud Robers and her mother arrive at Piedmont Junior High, the students and their parents stare at them, but there is no violence.
Northern businessman Julius Rosenwald donates millions of dollars to help build schools for black children in the South. In 15 states, there are 5,000 Rosenwald schools. Of the 813 in North Carolina, 26 are in Mecklenburg County.
February 15, 1958 - KKK members are arrested on their way to bomb a Charlotte school.
Queens College opens to train young men who will become ministers. But there will be problems when King George III refuses to grant the charter which will approve the school's operation. Later, the school's name will change to Queens Museum and will be followed by Liberty Hall.
With the Revolutionary War now over, citizens work hard for a better life in the growing Charlotte- Mecklenburg communities.
The Charlotte Female Institute opens to educate young women. The school building at the corner of Ninth and College streets will be used in 1896 to start Presbyterian College for Women.
May 17, 1954 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules in a case called Brown vs. The Board of Education that segregating, or separating students and schools according to race is a violation of the U.S. Constitution. But it will take more than the court's ruling to achieve equality in our schools.
April 20, 1971 - The U.S. Supreme Court votes unanimously to uphold Judge McMillan's decision in the Swann case. Busing can be used to achieve racial balance in schools. But victory is not yet won.
West Charlotte moves: 1954
West Charlotte High School moves to from Beatties Ford Road to Senior Drive.
Band Director John Holloway conducts the Marching Lions in front of the new school.
1968 - Jackie Harrison graduates from predominantly white Harding High School.
March 21, 1991 - Stephanie Counts is named North Carolina Principal of the Year.
<p>North Carolina received 1.5 million in surplus U.S. government funds. This money would be used to start the state's public school fund.
April 23, 1969 - There is a new judge presiding over the Swann case, the legal action that tests whether integration can actually work in schools. Judge James B.
1973 - Leroy "Pop" Miller becomes the first black principal at formerly all-white East Mecklenburg High School. He becomes as beloved at East Mecklenburg High School as he was at West Charlotte.
