Ursel Brown was excited to enroll at Eva L. Thomas High School in 1965. At the time, the newly constructed school had a growing reputation for its academic excellence and athletic success.
The all-Black school was established to educate students in the College Park area. However, a few years after opening, amid the civil rights struggle to desegregate public schools, the Fulton County School Board ordered the school to be closed.
The move sparked protests led by students attending the school. Brown was among the more than 300 students who participated in demonstrations to stop the school’s closure. This story is now the focus of a documentary called “Our School, Our Fight: Saving Eva Thomas High.”
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