Somebody Had To Do It
The “Somebody Had to Do It” project is a multidisciplinary research project documenting the experience of the first African American children to attend formerly all‐White schools. This project, which seeks to identify and interview those who desegregated formerly all‐White schools in the U.S., is housed at Claflin University (Orangeburg, SC). When asked why they risked life and security and endured hardship and abuse, "Somebody Had Do It" was the frequent response of activists who stepped forward, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, to end educational apartheid.
Four scholar‐activists initiated the Project and sought support of other groups sharing its mission. Historian, Constance Curry, family therapist, Vanessa Jackson, political scientist Paula Quick Hall are joining historian, Millicent Brown to create the expansive vision for making the history of youth struggle in the past relevant to the youth and adults of today. The Project was funded by grants from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation (Battle Creek, MI) and the American Friends Service Committee (Philadelphia, PA). “Somebody Had to Do It” is creating a database of those “First Children” whose narratives are needed to adequately and accurately interpret the issues and results associated with the Brown vs. Board of Education (1954) Supreme Court decision and Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The latter declared that all school districts must submit school desegregation plans to the federal government in order to receive federal funding for their schools. More details are available at the project website.
The Project Director, Dr. Millicent Brown, is herself one of the desegregation pioneers in Charleston, South Carolina. Beyond collecting the narratives and data, the "Somebody Had To Do It" project will encourage critique and interpretations across multiple disciplines to ensure that this mid‐twentieth century phenomenon is appreciated as more than a historical or political event. “In fact,” says Brown, “we need artists, psychologists, social workers, and dramatists all to present these events and people from a range of perspectives.”
Currently, at both North Carolina Central University (NCCU) and Claflin University, undergraduate students are conducting research related to the goals of this project. NCCU students have been trained to find desegregation pioneers in their own communities. Other students have been assigned to do archival research about early desegregation. At Claflin, students have had the opportunity to take an oral history methodology course, taught by Millicent Brown. A number of Claflin students have also accompanied Dr. Brown on interviews with some of the people who desegregated the schools in South Carolina. Students have also been doing archival work to contextualize the oral histories being recorded. Feel free to read about other program highlights.