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Dr. Thomas Clyburn Discusses His Education From Integration to a Post Graduate Degree
- 2022/07/29
- 再生時間: 42 分
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あらすじ・解説
The late Dr. Thomas Clyburn remembered
hearing the sound of his patent leather loafers on the floor of a Blue Bird bus
while stepping out of his seat and walking down the aisle to the front, then
down the steps on the first day of school in 11th grade. The setting was unfamiliar.
Earlier that day, Clyburn showed up
for class at Booker High School where he was an honors student. He was asked to
wait outside, near the main office and didn’t know why. A bus pulled up. “Are
you Thomas Clyburn?” driver Robert Graham asked. “Yes, I am,” the teenager
replied. “I’m here to take you to school, not here.” The driver and passenger
took the route from Myrtle Avenue to North Washington Boulevard to Sarasota
High School. Students were everywhere. “Good luck. I’ll come back to pick you
up.” The bus driver dropped him off in front of the gothic style building. When
he stepped off the bus, the world in front of him froze.
“Everyone was looking at me. My
pulse rate in my throat went to the roof.” He
walked to the administration office. “It was really, really, really quiet.
The principal [Gene Pilot] introduced himself. He asked a few questions.” Then
a teacher escorted him to homeroom. Some students were silent. Some whispered.
“That was my first day. It was a challenge. You would think those days would
get better over time, but in many ways they got worse.”
Clyburn, no longer in Booker’s
cocoon of nurturing teachers and classmates was chosen for a pilot program to
integrate Sarasota County schools in 1963. “I was sitting in homeroom looking
out of the window. A kid with a big German shepherd walked toward the building.
I heard a loud pop. Six men racing toward me said ‘get in the center. Don’t say
anything. Follow us.’ We went to the principal’s office. They locked down the
school to look for the student.” Willemina Thomas, a BHS classmate was also
selected to participate in the SHS pilot program, but their paths never
crossed. Clyburn, a behavioral psychologist was university director of learner
affairs at Capella University.