School District Officials
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Richardson Dilworth, "Glory Days", The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 17, 1989. |
"[Richardson] Dilworth became president of the school board and he totally reformed the school board. . . . There were concerns when he took over that black enrollment was increasing and that nobody would care once the school district tipped to black control. It was the exact opposite, Dilworth said 'it's more important than ever to have good schools'. He raised money from the city, from the state, from the federal government" - Peter Binzen, Journalist for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, January 29, 2013, Philadelphia: The Great Experiment.
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Schools Superintendent Mark Shedd, "School Head Out in Philadelphia", December 12th, 1971, The New York Times.
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"[Schools Superintendent] Dr. Shedd was sincere on issues of diversity and innovative programming. He was a risk-taker committed to making a positive difference. Many people saw the student demonstration as a characteristic of the Shedd administration"- Ruth Wright Hayre, Tell Them We Are Rising: A Memoir of Faith in Education.
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Protesters
Students outside of the School Board building, November 17th, 1967, "Protest March".
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"The crowd of demonstrators had swelled to more than 3,500 students from at least twelve high schools marching around the Board of Education building" - Matthew Countryman, Up South: Civil Rights and Black Power in Philadelphia.
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Bernyce Mills-DeVaughn (left), Jibril Abdul Jaleel, and Karen Asper-Jordan, three young adult activists in Philadelphia during the late 1960s, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Heather Khalifa.
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Black Activist Supporters: "I was there to support. When we were involved in the Civil Rights Movement, we went anywhere. Anywhere there was a cause, anywhere there was an injustice, we were there. It could've been a slum landlord, it could've been a merchant not doing what he was supposed to do: mistreating the clientele, the post office, it could've been hiring practices in places: it didn't matter where. . . . We didn't have cell phones back then, but word always got around about what was going on" -Karen Asper-Jordan, an young adult supporter at the walkout.
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Organizers
The BPUM's desires for an independent black school and the students' complaints of discrimination in schools were merged into a list of grievances with the help of Walter Palmer.
An article discussing the work of the BPUM,"BPUM Friends Aiding Negroes", The Philadelphia Tribune, July 30th, 1968.
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"The Black People's Unity Movement (BPUM) . . . would unite black Philadelphians across both class and ideological divisions. The BPUM education committee promoted the efforts of black parents and teachers to win greater community say over the workings of the public schools that served the city's black communities. At roughly the same time [that student leaders approached Walter Palmer], members of the BPUM's education committee were debating the relative merits of establishing independent schools to teach black history and culture . . . versus working to implement black history curricula in the public schools attended by most black children" -Matthew Countryman, Up South: Civil Rights and Black Power in Philadelphia.
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Walter Palmer leading a student walkout in 2015 against a a state Supreme Court ruling on school enrollment caps, Sheila Simmons, The Philadelphia Tribune.
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"Walt[er] Palmer: . . . he was a historian. He was the one that helped those children plan. . . . They, [the students] were being groomed [by Walter Palmer and the BPUM] for leadership roles" -Karen Asper-Jordan, an adult supporter of the walkout.
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Student demonstrators in Philadelphia, 1965, John W. Moseley, Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection, Temple University.
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"A group of high school students . . . approached Palmer for help in challenging school dress and behavior codes that banned African clothing, 'afro' haircuts, and African Names" -Matthew Countryman, Up South: Civil Rights and Black Power in Philadelphia.
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Law Enforcement
Police Commissioner of Philadelphia, Frank Rizzo, January 3rd, 1968, AP Photos, Bill Achatz.
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"[Frank] Rizzo rose rapidly through the police ranks, aided by his tough reputation as a cop’s cop. As head of the police department, he became known for brutal 'law-and-order' tactics that pitted him against civil-rights activists" -Jake Blumgart, “How Philly's Frank Rizzo Rode 'Blue-Collar Conservatism' to Victory.”
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Lieutenant George Fencl, "For 25 years, honoring great Cops, altering lives", The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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"At Dilworth's request, the only police officer on the scene when the morning [of the walkout] began were members of Lieutenant George Fencl's Plainclothes Civil Disobedience Squad which had earned a reputation for maintaining cordial relations with black protesters"- Matthew Countryman, Up South: Civil Rights and Black Power in Philadelphia.
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