Known as “The Greatest School Under the Sun”, on Saturday, July 1, 2023, a Legacy Graduation Ceremony took place to honor members of the Williston Senior High Classes of 1969 and 1970, who were denied the opportunity to graduate from their school after the school board abruptly closed it when forced to integrate.
The legacy graduation ceremony took place at the Williston Middle School Gymnasium and featured Professor Emeritus Phillip Clay, Ph.D. as the keynote speaker. Clay is a Wilmington native, 1964 Williston Senior High School alumni, and the first Black Chancellor of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Family, loved ones, and alumni sat in great anticipation to witness this historic event. As excitement was heavy in the room, the door opened, and after the mascots presented themselves, the grand march of the graduates processed through the doors. Tears of joy flowed, while cheers and well-wishes were empowering and ongoing until they were seated.
It was a phenomenal day with music provided by the Williston Alumni Community Choir, under the leadership of directress, Mrs. Marva Mapson Robinson that ended with the tradition of tassels that were worn on the right side and moved to the left and a memorable recessional of pomp & circumstance and a high-stepping ceremony performed by their drum major and majorettes of their alumni.
New Hanover County Schools, the City of Wilmington, and the New Hanover County Government partnered to host the legacy graduation ceremony for the Williston Senior High School alumni.
The History of Williston:
It was based upon a school for freed slaves which had been founded in 1866 and named after Samuel Williston, a Massachusetts button maker and philanthropist. That was on Seventh Street but, in 1915, a new building was constructed on Tenth and Church which opened in 1916 as Williston Industrial School, and, in 1923, this became the first accredited high school for blacks in North Carolina. As it developed, it became known by a variety of names including Williston Graded School, Williston Primary and Industrial School, and Williston High School, and is now Williston Middle School of Math, Science & Technology.
It was intended for freed slaves and initially had 450 pupils divided into five departments: primary, intermediate, advanced, normal, and industrial.
A new building was opened in 1933 and then rebuilt when it was destroyed by fire in 1936. That building was then closed in 1954 after a lawsuit and replaced by another new building on South Tenth Street. The lawsuit had been brought by Dr. Hubert A. Eaton, a local civil-rights activist who repeatedly pressed for greater equality of education. At the time, the school was comparatively deprived of resources such as new textbooks, but its performance was the best of the black schools in the state.
Martin Luther King Jr. was scheduled to speak at the school gymnasium on April 4, 1968. He changed his plans, staying in Tennessee, and was assassinated there that same day. Black high school students protested in Wilmington on the following day, making a march to City Hall. Later that year, desegregation plans for Wilmington were disputed in federal court. The school was closed as a high school as the Board of Education did not want to spend the sums required to improve the school to the standard of white schools nor to send white students there. The black students were moved to the previously all-white high schools of New Hanover and Hoggard, where they complained of inadequate provision.
The institution was closed as a high school in 1968 as part of desegregation and this caused disturbances resulting in the Wilmington Ten.
The school district, county, and city worked with Williston Alumni groups and developed additional partnerships in the community while planning this important event. If you are interested in donating toward the graduation ceremony or getting involved, contact Linda Thompson at 910-798-7430 or use the link: https://checkout.square.site/merchant/DX4CNXFVZEHX2/checkout/RVVV6VIKVHELJGD4BYEMTMFQ?src=sheet .
Donations can also be mailed to:
Better is Possible
Post Office Box 415
Wilmington, NC 28402
The list of graduates of the 1969 and 1970 classes are:
Class of 1969
Alonzo Samuel
Anita Haynes
Anthony Howard
Bernard Brunson
Bettie Lyde Nixon
Betty Floyd
Beverly DeVane-Jenkins
Beverly Aiken Brown
Carol E. Davis Young
Carolyn Grainger
Charles FaFa Brunson
Cheryl Ann Davis
Dalphaline Williams
Darlene Walker Lightfoot
David Purnell Lowe
Debbie Tindall
Donna Evans Boney
Dorothy McClammy Stewart
Dortha Brown Barnett
Edith Campbell Bellamy
Eleanor Brown Spicer
Emanuel James
Emma J. Jones
Gail D. Nixon
Gaye Lynette McDonald
George Bragg
Geraldine Mitchell Brunson
Gloria Brinkley-Caldwell
Gwendolyn. D. Kee
Gwendolyn Anne Rogers
Harry Lee Taylor Jr.
Helen McClammy McCrary
Ingrid Ann Bradley Bryant
Jacqueline Ann Jackson
James Carl Manning, Jr.
James. T. Dixon
James Franklin Spicer
Janice Benjamin Hugie
Janice L. Wiggins
Joan Beatty
John Holliday
Larry Stephen Bellamy
Leonard G. Rice
Leroy Crummy
Linda C. Fillyaw
Lonnie Howard
Louis A. Hassell
Margaret Patricia Holmes
Margie Charles
Mattie Lee Canty
Nathaniel Waddell
Ophelia Tindall Dixon
Patricia Jennings Brown
Patricia Ann Waddell
Robert Earl Nixon, Jr.
Rudolph DeVone Bell
Shirley Ann Taylor
Shirley Ann Trapp
Ulysses Marvin Slade Jr.
Wanda Robinson Palmer
William Leon Everett
William Rhames
Willie James Toney
Wilma Williams
Class of 1970
Ahmad Rashed
Alice Dorsey
Andre Lee Jones
Angeline Thomas
Annette Green
Barnard Ray Tindall
Benjamin Chadwick
Betty L. Richardson
Brenda Bradley Diggs
Brenda Foy Nixon
Brenda Franks James
Brendalyn Diana Fillyaw
Carolyn Jeanette Nixon
Chappell Green
Clarence Stewart
Clifton Moore Hansley
Cynthia Irene Mack
Cynthia Jones
Dale Acquenetta Pearson
Debra Newkirk
Earle Stanley Graham
Edward Bell
Eleanor Mae Waddell
Elisabeth Jacobs Sterling
Emma L. Pellham
Ermalynn Durant
Ernestine Bowman
Faye Grady
Felecia Denese Lloyd
Frank Brown, Jr.
Fred D. McNeil
Geraldine Dorsey
Geraldine Weeks Pollock
Glenn Dickey
Gracie M. Jenkins
Guy Maceo Waddell
Jacqueline Brown
Janice Walker
Jean Robinson
Jeffrey Plummer
Jewell Aiken
Joan Carol James
Joseph Jenkins, Jr.
Karen Michelle Greene
Kaye Morris
Kojo Nantambu
Larry J. Williams
Lena Bennerman
Leon Bowman
Lerdine Holland
Lizzie Ann Locke
Luzzetta Glaspie
Malcolm Jordan, Jr,
Marie Beatty
Marilyn Dianne Bellamy
Marilynn C. Miller
Mary Bryant Jackson
Mary Davis Brown
Mitzi Deborah McClammy
Ninivah Christine Jones
Norma Mosley
Oliver Eugene Miller
Ralph Miller
Rebecca Gale Taylor
Robert Lee Logan
Robert Lee Lucas
Robert Lee Summers
Ronald Gilbert McFadden
Ruby Mae Grady
Sandra Bell
Sandra Bell
Sandra Bell Wilson
Sarah Stallings
Shirl E. Shaw
Stelena Holmes
Sylvia Ann Jenkins
Sylvia Lorraine Grady
Valeria Hill Davis
Viola Hawkins
Walter Weldon Herring
Warren Wilson
Whelma Kaye Bryant
Wilhelmina Hankins Greene
William B. White
William O. Boykin
William Pearson
Windell C. Butler
