Dorothy Counts

Dorothy Counts (born 1942) was one of the first black students admitted to the Harry Harding High School, in Charlotte, North Carolina. After four days of harassment that threatened her safety, her parents forced her to withdraw from the school.

History

In 1957, forty black students applied for transfers at a white school.^[1] At 15-years of age, on September 1957, Counts was one of the four black students enrolled at various all-white schools in the district; Counts was at Harry Harding High School, Charlotte, North Carolina.^[2] Three students were enrolled at other schools, including Central High School. The harassment started when the wife of John Z. Warlickthe, the leader of the White Citizens Council, urged the boys to "keep her out" and at the same time, implored the girls to spit on her, saying, "spit on her, girls, spit on her."^[1] Counts walked by without reacting, but told the press that many people threw rocks at her—most of which landed in front of her feet—and that many spat on her back. More abuse followed that day. She had trash thrown at her while eating her dinner and the teachers ignored her.^[1] The following day, she befriended two white girls, but they soon drew back because of harassment from other classmates.^[1] Her family received threatening phone calls and after four days of extensive harassment—which included a smashed car and having her locker ransacked, her father decided to take his daughter out of the school.^[1] At a press conference, he said:

It is with compassion for our native land and love for our daughter Dorothy that we withdraw her as a student at Harding High School. As long as we felt she could be protected from bodily injury and insults within the school’s walls and upon the school premises, we were willing to grant her desire to study at Harding.^[1]

The family moved to Pennsylvania, where Counts attended an integrated school in Philadelphia.^[1]

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Wallenstein Newsletter of the Society for the History of Children and Youth
2. ^ The Emergence Of Diversity: African Americans

References

• Wallenstein, Peter., Wallenstein Newsletter of the Society for the History of Children and Youth
• Morrill, Dan L., The Emergence Of Diversity: African Americans

External links

• Photography of Dorothy Counts' first day at Harding High School, World Press Photo

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Name	Counts, Dorothy
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Date of birth	1942
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