(dramatic music) (dramatic music continues) - Hi, my name is Jaiden Scott and I'm a senior here at Lynchburg's EC Glass High School.

Now, 60 years ago, our school looked a lot different than what we see today.

There weren't any students of color here, none that looked like me, whether that be in the hallways or sitting in classes, but then came integration and today, you're gonna hear from two out of the four students that helped to integrate my high school.

Dr. Cardwell, what was going through your mind the night before you entered this school building?

- Well, the night before we entered the school building, we had a big snowstorm, so what was going through my mind is maybe this is not gonna take place.

- Okay, were there any feelings of just confusion, were you nervous walking in or did you feel like this is what you needed to do?

- Well, of course there's always a bit of nerves associated with it.

We had made arrangements to all come in the same car and arrangements had been made for us to arrive at EC Glass after classes had started.

So there was very little fanfare.

- [Jaiden] Were there ever any police officers brought here for you or your friends?

- There were police officers present.

The afternoon papers had pictures and out front of EC Glass were white students all over the place literally hanging out the windows.

Now, if they had been there when we drove up, I might not have gotten out a car.

(upbeat music) - Our parents didn't have allegiance, you might say to people who controlled their economic support.

CC's father was a dentist in private practice, Owen's father was a businessman in the insurance industry and other avenues that he pursued, and then Linda's parents had pretty much independent lifestyles and my mother was a domestic worker and so the people that she worked for supported her in this decision to allow me to be a part of those four children.

- In the 1954 Supreme Court case Brown versus the Board of Education, the court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.

This ruling was one of the cornerstones of the Civil Rights Movement establishing that separate but equal was in fact not equal at all.

- The school board admitted Owen and Linda and did not admit CC and I in violation of the court order to desegregate the schools.

We had to go back to court, two little 13 year old girls had stood up and told the city of Lynchburg through their attorneys that we were not going to continue to violate the court order, that we had every right, according to the US Constitution, to attend EC Glass High School.

- Did you ever feel threatened or out of place, anything like that?

- If I would come back from lunch and not careful, sometimes I might be attacked in my seat.

I sat on a tack about three or four times.

I remember clearly the day that John Kennedy was assassinated 'cause somebody yelled out from the crowd, they killed your hero.

- [Jaiden] How did teachers treat you when they saw these things happening?

- There were one or two teachers who went outta their way to express support, but for the most part, those incidents that took place didn't take place in the presence of teachers.

- [Jaiden] What was going through your mind when you first entered the doors of EC Glass?

- There was a sense of enthusiasm as well as concern, so I wasn't concerned about my physical health, but I was a little concerned about how I was going to be accepted and what was the future going to be like?

- How did you feel about extracurricular activities?

Were you wanting to participate in them?

Did you participate in them?

- No, I came to school and I left.

For me going, to EC Glass High School for all three years was like going into a war zone.

The hostility and the anger and the bitterness and the racism was very apparent in the way we were responded to.

The first day that I walked into my biology class, I sat at the first empty seat I saw.

The person I sat next to jumped out of her seat and literally ran to the back of the class.

The worst part of the day was going to the lunch room.

So it was always a challenge to find a table to sit down and eat lunch without having people say something under their breath and there was a boy and when we sat at his table, he looked at us, he picked his tray up, and with the most disgust in his voice he said, "It's bad enough we have to go to school with (censored), "now we have to eat with them."

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) - [Jaiden] Did you know that walking into this building was gonna have such a great impact on our public school system?

- I don't know that we really thought about the impact we were gonna have.

We were 14 and 15 years old at the time.

- [Jaiden] Would you do it all again?

- Most certainly, I would do it again because somebody has to do it.

Somebody has to be first.

- Today, students of color make up 60% of the population here at EC Glass High School and while the four students did not think about the impact that their presence would make initially, it is important to understand just how necessary their journey was in providing accessibility for students of color today.

I'm Jaiden Scott.

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