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On Sept. 11, 1961, the first two black students to enroll in a white public school began classes at Lake Worth High School, making Palm Beach County the fourth in the state to begin integration. Later that day, Palm Beach Junior college admitted its first black student. The Palm Beach Post declared that “integration came quietly and smoothly” to the schools.
Click on the image to browse the Sept. 12, 1961, Palm Beach Post.
Teens now attending the Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr. School of the Arts might not know the legacy of the historic complex on “The Hill.”
Forty years ago this week, on Sept. 1, 1970, the original Palm Beach High changed its name to Twin Lakes. The moniker was shortlived, and the complex shut soon after. But it was too important to let go.
Let’s revisit a 2004 column:
Twin Lakes formed for all the right reasons, but it had a less than charmed life. For decades, white students had attended Palm Beach High, while blacks attended Roosevelt, about 2 miles to the north.
In the fall of 1970, pressed by the U.S. Supreme Court, Palm Beach County integrated the schools. Forced to create a single entity, school officials named the two campuses “Twin Lakes North” and “Twin Lakes South.”
The old Roosevelt High eventually became a middle school.
“Twin Lakes High” finally closed in June 1988.
It briefly operated as Palm Beach Lakes High until that school’s new campus opened Jan. 30, 1989, then shut down again.
For years, it stood vacant. A total of $29.5 million was spent to renovate the buildings. The Dreyfoos school opened in 1997.
The May 2004 column had said logic suggested “Twin Lakes” referred to Lake Mangonia, which fronted Roosevelt, and Clear Lake, near Palm Beach High.
That prompted a call from Polly Kelly called in Lake Worth. She’d been Palm Beach High’s treasurer from 1967 to 1988.
Polly said our conjecture was correct. She said a committee comprising faculty from the two schools was struggling with a name when she told her friend, Willie Mays Jr., who headed the committee, “Willie, I have the perfect name. Twin Lakes School. Just look at the map.”
In July of this year, Polly, now 88, said she was thrilled that the complex is still standing strong, saying, “It’s very precious.”
No longer with us, sadly, is Dr. Reginald J. Stambaugh, who died in 2007. He often was our primary source on Palm Beach High and strived to save its buildings.
Arnold Clark of Ferrin Signs hangs a banner announcing The End of an Era party that was held on the football field in May 1988 honoring the history of Palm Beach High School and Twin Lakes High School. Forty years ago this week the original Palm Beach High changed its name to Twin Lakes.
Palm Beach High School in 1940 (Palm Beach Post file photo)
In 2008, in honor of the school’s 100th anniversary, The Palm Beach Post produced 100 Years on the Hill, a video documenting the history of the school. Click on the image above to see the video at CLIK/HEAR, the multimedia, photography, video showcase of The Palm Beach Post.
For more information: Palm Beach High Alumni and Historical Association
BY ELISA CRAMER
To provide scholarships to high school seniors, they cooked and sold dinners each Saturday. They started community programs, from tutoring elementary school students to volunteering at nursing homes to helping to break down barriers erected by segregation.
That legacy of service to the community has endured for 55 years for the members of Zeta Tau Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Chartered in Palm Beach County on December 10, 1955, this graduate chapter of the oldest Greek letter organization for black women is as strong today as ever. Through the efforts of the Ivy Educational Foundation, a 501(c) (3) organization that supports the fundraising efforts of the Zeta Tau Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the Chapter annually awards scholarships to graduating high school seniors. Last year, the Chapter awarded $20,000 in scholarships.
The Chapter also:
· provides a community outreach program for middle and high school students, along with workshops for parents;
· sponsors two youth groups – one for middle school girls and one for young ladies in high school; and
· gives support to cancer research, the American Lung Association, The Salvation Army, The Red Cross and several other community organizations.
To make these contributions, including the $20,000 in scholarships last year, the Sorority hosts such fundraisers as: the Emerald Elegance dance, The Mother/Daughter Luncheon, and the Fashionetta youth pageant, luncheon and fashion show, featuring the Hamilton Vogue Esquire models of Chicago. This year’s Mother/Daughter Luncheon will be held at the PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens on May 1, 2010, at 11:30 a.m.
Under the leadership of Chapter President Maxine Perry DuPont, the Chapter aims this year to focus on the economic growth of the Black family, health issues facing elementary school students and their parents, and financial literacy. The Chapter also supports such annual grassroots programs as the Thelma R. Jones Prayer Breakfast, the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade and the provision of Thanksgiving Food Baskets.
The 15 charter members who launched the Zeta Tau Omega Chapter 55 years ago had a vision of sisterhood and service – a vision that thrives in Palm Beach County today. Zeta Tau Omega Chapter is one of three graduate chapters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., in the county. There also is a chapter in Belle Glade and in Delray Beach.
To find out more about the Mother/Daughter Luncheon, how your daughter can become a part of the Twenty Pearls or Precious Pearls youth groups, or other information about Zeta Tau Omega’s activities, please contact Maxine DuPont at (561) 655-3978.
Following are the chapter’s 15 founding members:
Charter Members in 1955
Geneva Boynton
Myrtis Edgecombe Burke
Vernice Williams Butler
Clayton Lowe Coleman*
Naomi Daniels Cole
Lillian Hearst
Bernadine E. Lazier
Doris Matthews*
E. Bernadine Cousins Murray
Louise Murray
Ardis Orr*
Juanita Orr
Marian Orr*
Delores Robinson Powdrill
Novik Mitchell Stubbs*
Evangeline Wilburn*
*Deceased
Lawson State Community College in Alabama has an excellent black history page on its website that’s chock full of information on historical and present day figures.
Click here to check out this comprehensive site.
BY LADY HEREFORD
Riviera Beach’s majority black population makes it a rarity among South Florida’s waterfront municipalities. But the city’s complexion was quite different in its early days.
White settlers in the area voted to incorporate the city as the Town of Riviera in September 1922. It was re-incorporated in June 1923, and a volunteer fire department began in 1926, according to the book “A History of Riviera Beach, Florida,” edited by former Library Director Lynn Brink.
The 1928 hurricane destroyed Kelsey City, Riviera’s northern neighbor, and caused widespread damage to homes and businesses. During the next two decades, the sleepy town relied mainly on the commercial fishing industry and tourism, earning the nickname “Conch Town.”
During the 1940s, the town expanded, at one point buying 1,000 feet of beach on Singer Island (named for developer Paris Singer) for $40,000. The town, which changed its name to Riviera Beach in 1941, later acquired much of the south end of the island.
The civil rights era brought major changes to the city, which saw its black population more than double between 1950 and 1970. In 1962, attorney F. Malcolm Cunningham became the city’s first black councilman.
The Rev. Herman McCray moved to Riviera Beach in 1966. The area’s affordable homes attracted a large number of black professionals, McCray said.
He and his neighbors in the Imperial Point neighborhood founded the Imperial Men’s Club to fight for services like trash collection and street lights. The club grew to more than 100 members at one time, he said, and the group’s goals expanded citywide.
“It’s just something that needed to be done,” said McCray, who later became the city’s sanitation superintendent, served on the city council, owned a successful business and sat on the county school district’s biracial committee. He and the club earned a mention in the book “Blacks and Social Change” by James W. Button.
Many of the city’s newer residents aren’t aware that before integration, Riviera Beach, like many municipalities, had separate facilities for blacks and whites, he said.
“We’ve had a used car lot, black drive-in theater, pool, gymnasium,” he said. “A lot of people didn’t have that.”
