Editor’s note: The Dollarway High School Class of 1975 will celebrate its 50th anniversary at a reunion Aug. 8-9 at Regional Park’s John R. Fallis Facility. This column was written by one of its graduates.
For the Class of 1975 at Dollarway High School, it’s more than a reunion; it’s the fulfillment of a milestone once denied to the young pioneers who, in 1969, stepped through the doors of integration at Dollarway.
As the school prepared to close its doors for the final time in June 2023, the Alpha Class –the first to enroll and graduate under the fully unitary and integrated school mandate — was asked to write a Foreword for the Omega Class’ yearbook. Humbled by the rare request, we reflected on a shared legacy, the long road through integration and the uncertain future of the community the school once served. A glimpse of that reflection is captured here, as the Class of ’75 prepares to at last experience the joy, anticipation and celebration that a high school prom would have offered.
For students enrolling in 1969-70 school year, the journey marked the beginning of a new chapter for two Pine Bluff schools — Townsend Park and Dollarway — after the federally mandated integration. It was against a backdrop of racial tension that the Dollarway School District implemented its “freedom of choice” plan. This policy allowed students in grades one through nine who lived west of the Missouri Pacific railroad tracks in Pine Bluff to attend Dollarway schools, while those east of the tracks continued at Townsend Park. A small buffer zone between U.S. 79 and the tracks gave students some discretion, and a clause permitted transfers to schools where a student’s race would be in the minority. However, the promise of integration was limited in practice: only 64 Black students — less than 5% of Dollarway’s 1,392-member student body — enrolled under the plan that year.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Among them was Delores York, a first grade student who quietly made history as the first Black child to enroll in Dollarway schools.
Local leaders and legal advocates were critical to advancing change on the ground. Among them was Attorney John Walker, a Harvard Law School graduate and one of the most prominent civil rights attorneys in the South. Walker was instrumental in enforcing court orders related to school desegregation across Arkansas, including Dollarway. His legal work, rooted in deep principles of justice and fairness, helped shape civil rights enforcement in education and extended the impact of Brown v. Board of Education throughout the South. Notably, he represented Black students in a decades-long desegregation case involving Little Rock-area schools — a battle that continued until his passing in 2019.
Forced busing in 1969-70 brought both progress and painful compromise to Dollarway. On one hand, we were finally taking tangible steps toward equity. But the costs were steep. Black educators were disproportionately affected; many were reassigned, demoted or removed from leadership roles. Townsend Park’s esteemed band director, for example, was made an assistant at Dollarway. The school mascot changed from Townsend Park’s mighty Eagles to the Dollarway Cardinals. The appointment of Black coaches came only later — another reminder that true equity was still a work in progress.
Still, the faculty eventually became more balanced. In the 1969-70 school year, Dollarway employed 55 Black teachers and 57 white teachers — a rare demographic parity at the time.
Eventually, students adapted to the everyday joys and sorrows of high school life. We participated in all aspects and often led the way. We played football, cheered, sang in the choir and marched in the band. Pine Bluff native and longtime resident LuJuana Bankston — who played bells in the high school band and later enjoyed a successful career in banking — fondly recalls the band’s rendition of the “Shaft” movie theme during a football game as a particular highlight. Others remember lunchroom encounters, locker room jokes, the soulful sounds of KCAT radio drifting from the student parking lot and the calm, cautionary voice of Principal Maurice Horton over the school intercom.
Yet students saw change through different prisms. Charles Byrd, a member of the Class of ’75 and now an assistant pastor in Brooklyn, N.Y., says integration was psychologically complicated: “It felt like everything that we identified with was dismissed. For the longest time, we struggled with who we were and who we were supposed to become.”
He and his brother William, also a graduate — who recently died — said the emotional effects of forced integration felt like a “silent mental illness.” But Dedrick “Dead-Eye” Murray, a Dollarway football star and veteran, reflects more positively on those formative years: “Dollarway taught us how to navigate tough spaces. We didn’t realize it at the time, but we were building resilience.”
Though Dollarway High School closed its doors in June 2023, its legacy lives on — and as Pine Bluff looks to the future, so does the Class of 1975. This August, nearly 50 years after graduation, classmates will reunite for a prom they never had.
In 1975, tragedy struck just weeks before their original graduation when class President Kenneth Meadors died of a brain aneurysm. While commencement remained a moment of celebration, it was also shadowed by grief. That same spring, a small group of white students held a prom — one that left some classmates feeling they never truly had the chance to celebrate together.
In 2000, the Class of ’75 held a meaningful and collaborative 25-year reunion in Pine Bluff — one that brought Black and white classmates together in a spirit of reflection and renewed connection. Now, thanks to the vision and determination of loyal ’75ers and longtime Pine Bluff native Joyce Williams Brown, the Class of ’75 — again unified — will gather Aug. 9 at the John R. Fallis Waterfront Facility to celebrate a milestone that was once out of reach but never out of mind.
In hosting what is surely a rare event — a prom held 50 years after graduation — former students will honor the memories, friendships and perseverance that have defined their shared journey.
“It’s been 50 years, so I don’t remember all the funny moments, but I do know I had a good experience and made a lot of friends,” said Williams, whose sentiments are echoed by Jackie Thomas Grissom, once captain of the cheerleading squad: “Who would have thought that out of the ashes of two segregated high schools, an even greater, more inclusive Dollarway class would rise?”
We cannot rewrite the past, but we can draw strength from it. History gives us a lens — not only to understand who we were, but to imagine who we can become.
Reanetta Hunt, M.Ed., CFRE, became the second Black person to report and anchor news in Arkansas at ABC affiliate KATV in Little Rock in 1978. She is an award-winning journalist, a corporate and nonprofit executive and the founder/CEO of HMMG Consulting, a management consulting agency in Washington, D.C.