Popis: |
This chapter chronicles how early decisions by Dr. William Pressly, founding president of Westminster, and other private school leaders began to blur the boundaries between public and private. Westminster, established in 1951, became a popular private school among white middle- and upper-class Atlantans. As Pressly became a leader of the National Council of Independent Schools, he began to negotiate multiple contexts, including that of the city of Atlanta, the state of Georgia, and independent schools nationally. Westminster’s early school culture reflected “Old South” sentiments and racist traditions, while at the same time the first black students to desegregate the school were being born. They would be raised in the segregated black communities and schools developed because of and in spite of Jim Crow. What they gained as young boys and girls would help equip them for experiences that they did not know lay ahead—desegregating and attending Westminster. |