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. At Bruce Elementary, the first African-American students to enroll were Dwania Kyles, Menelik Fombi, formerly Michael Willis, and Harry Williams, all of whom lived closer to Bruce than to the African-American school where they otherwise would have been assigned. Dwania Kyles remembered social isolation at school and reliance on friends in her neighborhood church for support. Menelik Fombi recalled a constant barrage of negativity and how group behavior could suddenly turn hostile. Harry Williams remembered being motivated to break the segregation barrier and also recalled a diligent principal who made sure the students were safe. Also remembered are the dedicated parents of these students: Samuel B. Kyles, A.W. Willis, and Romanita Morris. After opening day the students were on their own, and 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.
