Adkin students strike early blow for Civil Rights in N.C.
Roughly three years before the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education on May 17, 1954, ordered the end of segregation in U.S. public schools, students at Adkin High School demonstrated their disgust with inadequate educational facilities and materials by planning and executing the Adkin Walkout of November 20, 1951.
Although planned as a walkout by upper-level students, the protest evolved into an event involving all 700-plus Adkin students in grades seven through 12.
On Saturday, November 20, 2021 – the 70th anniversary of the Adkin Walkout – a historical marker will be unveiled to honor and celebrate one of the first events of the Civil Rights Movement in North Carolina. Parking is available at Adkin High’s parking lot. Shuttles will take participants to the marker site.
The Adkin High School Alumni and Friends, Inc. are dedicating the Adkin High School Walkout marker. Members who led or participated in the walkout will be present at the dedication.
The event will be held at 611 E. Washington Ave. at the corner of East Washington Avenue and Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. in Kinston. The program will begin at 11:00 a.m. on this Saturday, November 20, 2021.
The story of the Adkin Walkout has received national recognition and inclusion in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture and in the Library of Congress, as well. The City of Kinston commissioned local artists to paint a mural commemorating this historic moment.
The Adkin marker is the second to be installed on the North Carolina Civil Rights Trail. The Civil Rights Trail is a North Carolina African American Heritage Commission program, a division of the North Carolina Department of Natural & Cultural Resources. The William G. Pomeroy Foundation provides funding for this endeavor.
The Adkin Walkout was entirely student-led. No parents or teachers even knew what the Adkin students had planned for that day. John Dudley, one of the organizers, shared with me what made the students spring into action on Tuesday, Nov. 20, 1951.
“Every Wednesday [Ms. B.C. Davis] brought in the Weekly Reader, which had very interesting articles in it. But this particular Wednesday, Nov. 14, she brought in the Weekly Reader, and the topic was what an ideal school has. We read the article about what an ideal school has, and we began to look around at each other.
“We asked Ms. Davis: ‘Is there a school in this area that has those things?’ She said, ‘Yes, Grainger High School up on the hill has them.’ So we asked her, ‘What probably could students do.’ And she said most times they would strike.
“From that point on, we asked Ms. Davis to leave the room. That article turned us on because we knew we did not have any of those things listed in the article.”
Some deficiencies Adkins seniors noticed included an old student-built barn used for a gym, no provisions for home economics classes, and poorly equipped shop classes. Students in science classes shared a single microscope, and lack of classroom space was also an issue.
“Some classes met in the auditorium; some in the library; some in the cafeteria. We needed more classroom space and a home economics room – and a new shop,” he said.
“The idea of the march started in Classroom 12A. We were considered college preparatory. So, we began to look around at each other and said, ‘Look. What can we do?’ Classroom A chose a committee to strategize and come up with a plan,” Dudley explained. Five students were chosen to go to the Board of Education and present the concerns of Adkin students.
The students called the school board to find out when they met. The board had a meeting scheduled for Monday, Nov. 19, at Grainger High School, so the students asked to speak at the meeting. The students went to the board meeting and presented a list of eight proposals.
At first, the board members believed parents or teachers had put the students up to coming to the board and presenting the list. Board members pressed the students to tell them “What adults” had sent them.
“No one sent us,” the students replied. Board members had a hard time believing the students had prepared the list.
“We had strategized from Wednesday, Nov. 14, through the weekend,” Dudley said. “We said that if we received a proper response from the board, then we would not walk out. But if they did not give us the proper response, we were going to walk out that Tuesday [Nov. 20].”
“The board members told us what we were asking for was not even in the budget for the next 10 years. So, we said, ‘Thank you very much,’ and left Grainger High.”
The board’s inaction prompted what followed – the Adkin Walkout. The statement that signaled the time had come for the walkout was: “Carolyn Coefield has lost her red pocketbook. If anyone finds it, please return it to the office.”
The action of these students produced results. The school board found money to erect a new, modern addition to Adkin, completed in the fall of 1953. The new facility contained the largest gymnasium floor space in eastern North Carolina and afforded adequate seating for the entire student body and more.
Additionally, the new building had industrial arts shops for carpentry, bricklaying, and auto mechanics. A modern home economics teaching suite, a band practice room, an additional classroom, male and female dressing rooms, and suites for the coaching staff were all in the package. At that time, the Adkin addition had no equal in the state.
Join the celebration this Saturday when a marker commemorating the foresight of these students takes its place in history. Anyone who has a red pocketbook is encouraged to bring it with them on Saturday.
Mike Parker is a columnist for Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.
