CCU faculty members played part in Conway’s desegregation history
by Prufer
Preston McKever-Floyd had just been elected vice president of Whittemore High School’s Student Council, a big deal back then. He would have been a shoo-in for the presidency his senior year but then he decided to switch to all-white Conway High School with four other African American students.
It was 1966, and Horry County Schools mailed out letters, offering African American parents the “Freedom of Choice” option of having their children enroll in historically “white schools.”
McKever-Floyd was excited for the possibility of better educational opportunities, even though it meant leaving behind his brand new political victory and going to a school where he knew no one.
Classmate Veronica Gerald, one of the five, recalls being frightened that first day she attended Conway High. “The day we went to get our books, and I saw the sea of white faces, I was a little scared,” she says. “The stairs of the school were like courthouse stairs, and the building was so huge, and I can’t even explain how frightening it was.”
McKever-Floyd, associate professor and chair of CCU's philosophy and religious studies department, and Veronica Gerald, assistant professor of English, were recently honored for their part in the desegregation of schools in the area from 1966 to 1968.
“I was deeply touched,” says McKever-Floyd of the Conway High School’s 22nd Annual Ethnic Buffet in February. “It was the first time we’ve been honored [for their role in desegregation]. Being there with Veronica Gerald and Michael Hughes was very exciting. It was so interesting to hear how they felt about our shared experience, as we have never really talked in depth about it.” (Michael Avant and Lavernon Owens, the other participants, were not present.]
McKever-Floyd made the decision to attend the all-white school with the strong support of his parents. “We had been told there were better educational opportunities at the white school, and we were all good students who, with our parents, wanted the best education we could get.” says the professor, who took all Advanced Placement classes in high school and went on to get several higher academic degrees. “I found that not to be totally true across the board, but the students in upper level courses had a sense of advantage that I had not experienced before.”
Gerald and McKever-Floyd both said their fellow Conway High students were mostly welcoming, though some did let their prejudices show. Gerald said some classmates would move on the bus if they sat near them, or put books on the seat to prevent them from sitting too close. McKever-Floyd, remembering the time, relates, “I probably missed some negative experiences” because, as he is quick to admit, he views life “through rose-colored glasses” and believes people to be “essentially good.”
It was widely said around Conway, McKever-Floyd recalled, that “blood would flow in the streets” if black students ever went to Conway’s white school. Fortunately, that never happened.
“There were people in the white community who worked across barriers to alleviate the fears of the community at high personal costs,” he says, mentioning the Rev. George Lovell, pastor of First Baptist Church; Richard Barnwell, pastor of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church; and Catherine Lewis, member of the South Carolina Human Relations Commission.
“Lovell and Barnwell had threats made on their lives,” he recalls.
The old Conway High School became fully integrated in 1971, and the school was demolished in 1988.
