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Cassandra Hall, interviewed by Mandy Fraser
A resident of Prince George's County since her birth in the July of 1960, Cassandra Hall was twelve years old when the busing began. The mid-school year switch affected her directly, transferring her from her neighborhood school of Thomas Johnson Junior High to that of William Wirt in Riverdale. At the time, Mrs. Hall was a resident of Glenarden, an all black community two miles from her former school. Her new school was twice this distance and led to a 25 minute commute, as opposed to a ten minute one.
Prior to the January switch, Cassandra participated in a sit in against the busing along with classmates who were likewise upset at both the timing of the change and the fact that it was taking them away from their neighborhood school and placing them in a mostly unfamiliar environment. They refused to go to class after the plans were announced so that scores of students sat in the cafeteria and library in protest. She recalls the event making local news reports, incurring the interest of the Superintendent. Even the administration of the school had problems with the busing.
In all the events, race was indeed an issue, though certainly not a main one. Mrs. Hall had has white friends at Thomas Johnson and encountered other races before, though there were only a few Caucasians enrolled and her elementary school was all black. As for the neighborhoods she was familiar with, they were segregated for the most part. Glenarden was well known for housing upper middle class blacks and being completely self sufficient with its own mayor and the like.
The busing split up Glenarden with certain streets going to the two different schools. In the first few months at William Wirt, Cassandra recalls there being a lot of fights and acting out in general, including the breaking of windows. Racial slurs were also thrown around. This was primarily among students as the teachers went out of their way to comfort kids and were really good at making them feel welcome.
The school, while integrated, still had more whites though African Americans were still welcome. She herself was a cheerleader and enjoyed the experience, though she primarily hung out with neighborhood friends throughout the transfer.
Mrs. Hall's first eencounter with blatant racism was indeed William Wirt at the hands of a music teacher named Ms. Garcia who was of a mixed race herself. None of the children liked her, especially the African Americans, because of her obvious prejudice and attitude toward the students. The older woman yelled at students a lot and got so frustrated one day that she asked, "Can anybody teach this class better than me? Then come up here!" Cassandra went up and, being naturally inclined toward music with a background in the church, managed to run a successful class period, dividing the students into two groups and teaching them harmonies, in a very short time.
The teacher disliked her after this incident and was militant. One day the young girl was sitting by the trashcan and tried to toss in some trash, but missed. Ms. Garcia then asked her pick up all the trash in the room as a punishment. Cassandra replied by saying, "I'm not doing that, slavery time is over!" She was subsequently suspended for five days. Her grades in that class were nothing but Cs and Ds for the rest of the school year, even when she aced all her other courses.
Again, this was the first time she'd ever encountered that sort of in your face racism, though she'd always been aware of it. She remembers watching TV and seeing a lot of Martin Luther King Junior, along with the riots in DC in 1968. Her relatives were actually affected in the civil unrest, with an uncle losing his cleaners business.
In retrospect, she believes that it was hard to tell the difference between schools, due to the fact that she only attended Thomas Johnson for one semester and was young at the time.
As for the remainder of her education, Mrs. Hall attended DuVal in the 10th grade (1975) then the brand new Eleanor Roosevelt (1976) for her last two years and was its first graduating class. At that time people in Glenarden Woods went to Eleanor Roosevelt while those in Glenarden went to DuVal
She recalls being excited about going to a new school, with race not even being a factor at this point. There were, however, more blacks in the school altogether, even though the incoming freshmen for the tech program were mostly white. It is interesting to note that ninth graders were still in junior high at the time, though they could take the test and, upon admission to the program would be able to transfer from their school into Roosevelt.
Cassandra received her undergraduate education at UMBC, which at the time was known for being racist among the African American community at the time. The attrition rate was high for minorities, teachers supposedly making it hard for black students. She was actively involved with the Black Student Union which got a lot of complaints and tried to raise awareness about the issue. Her activities on the issue gained her a reputation as known as a sort of Angela Davis, and she frequently spoke out to the student body about it.
After her time at UMBC, she attended Nursing school in 1981 and became close friends with white people for the first time, learning a lot of valuable study skills. She subsequently took these skills and helped fellow black students, also working at bridging relationships with professors. In this same spirit, Mrs. Hall drafted a constitution with a white counselor from UMD for a Black Student Nurses Association. Upon graduation she became one of the only black RNs at a hospital in Baltimore, while others of her race were techs and housekeeping. (1987)
When asked about recent events, she noted that communities are "definitely still segregated," only this time by economic means. Woodmore, for instance, is upper class blacks, much like the white Potomac of Montgomery County. Upper Marlborough is among the only integrated communities, because the real estate community may still be segregating.
Also interesting to note is the fact that as DC turns white yuppie, all the Section 8 residents are pushed into the county which causes tension within the race, racism within the race, or so-called 'racial genocide'- all due to economics.