Chapter III 7 school records
The Long Approach
1950–1963
A Lone Voice in Manuscripts
A short poem by student J.D. Miller appeared in Pomfret's literary magazine Manuscripts, framing American racism as a problem of recognition: "I said, 'I'm a colored man.' / I said, 'What's your name?' / 'I'm just a colored man,' he said." The book The Spirit That Is Pomfret notes that "Pomfret's trustees and administration took no overt steps toward integrating the school in the fifties," but that the question of racism remained "an important issue among some of the school's 148 Caucasian students." Miller's poem is the only documented student-press exploration of race at Pomfret in the decade between Gordon Dodds's 1949 editorial and the school's admission of its first Black student in 1964.
Source
Manuscripts, 1954-04-01. Pomfret School Archives. Not publicly digitized; verified against internal institutional history.
Verified against The Spirit That Is Pomfret, internal institutional history
See Sources & MethodsFollow the thread
Brown v. Board of Education. A unanimous Supreme Court ruled school segregation unconstitutional, overturning Plessy.
External source: National Archives
Montgomery Bus Boycott Begins. After Rosa Parks's arrest, a 381-day boycott ended segregated seating on Montgomery buses.
External source: Stanford King Institute
Second Female Faculty Member Hired
Sculptor Alice Decker joined the Pomfret faculty in January 1956, becoming the school's second female teacher (after librarian and German instructor Margaret Koenig). Decker would teach at Pomfret for 35 years and later design the studio addition to the Strong Building. By the 1959-60 academic year a third woman, French teacher Michelle "Mike" McCoy, joined the faculty, bringing the female-faculty total to three. Decker recalled that "since there were only two female teachers, one had to be very circumspect and careful of behavior," and that the male and female faculty communities sat apart at meals.
Source
Pomfret School records, 1956-01-15. Pomfret School Archives. Not publicly digitized; verified against internal institutional history.
Verified against The Spirit That Is Pomfret, internal institutional history
See Sources & MethodsFollow the thread
Little Rock Nine. Federal troops escorted nine Black students into Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.
External source: National Archives
First Coeducation Proposal
Pomfret School (pomfret.org)Already published on site Headmaster David Twichell formally proposed coeducation to the Pomfret Board of Trustees, suggesting that "rather than continue to increase the number of boys enrolled, the trustees should consider introducing coeducation to Pomfret in the future." The Board expressed "general agreement" with Twichell's long-range plan to "start a girl's school," but the issue proved divisive and contributed to his resignation four years later. Eleven years would pass before a successor Board, in February 1968, voted to admit female day students.
Source
Pomfret School Board minutes, 1957-10-01. Pomfret School Archives. Not publicly digitized; verified against internal institutional history.
Verified against The Spirit That Is Pomfret, internal institutional history
See Sources & MethodsFollow the thread
First Black Diploma on the Hilltop
The Griffin, 1961 (Pomfret School yearbook) — via Internet ArchivePD — copyright expired Frank Mwine '61, a Ugandan student who attended Pomfret for one year, became the first Black student to take a diploma on the Hilltop — preceding John Irick by half a decade. At graduation, Mwine presented Pomfret with a traditional African spear with the words "to kill the lion of misunderstanding." His legacy lived on in a display outside Headmaster Brad Hastings's office.
Source
Pomfret School records, 1961-06-01. Pomfret School Archives. Not publicly digitized; verified against internal institutional history.
Verified against The Spirit That Is Pomfret, internal institutional history
See Sources & MethodsFollow the thread
Faculty Diversifies: Shamil Utuner Joins
Shamil Utuner — Albanian-Turkish, multilingual in seven languages — joined the Pomfret faculty as a physical education teacher and trainer. He had taught alongside incoming Headmaster Joseph "Jay" Milnor at Robert Academy in Istanbul and came with him to Pomfret. Utuner's arrival broadened a faculty long drawn almost exclusively from New England prep schools, an early modest data point in the slow diversification of Pomfret's teaching corps.
Source
Pomfret School records, 1962-09-01. Pomfret School Archives. Not publicly digitized; verified against internal institutional history.
Verified against The Spirit That Is Pomfret, internal institutional history
See Sources & MethodsFollow the thread
A Better Chance Charter Membership
Pomfret became a Charter Member of A Better Chance (ABC), a national program founded in 1963 to increase the number of well-educated young people of color. This partnership facilitated the enrollment of talented students of color at Pomfret for decades.
Source
Pomfret School records, 1963-01-01. Pomfret School Archives. Not publicly digitized; verified against internal institutional history.
Verified against The Spirit That Is Pomfret, internal institutional history
See Sources & MethodsFollow the thread
March on Washington. Roughly 250,000 people gathered; Dr. King delivered "I Have a Dream."
External source: National Archives
Matt Hobbs '64 Visits Wilkinson High
Matt Hobbs '64 visited Wilkinson High School in Orangeburg, South Carolina, as part of a program organized by the American Friends Service Community. The aim: to allow white students from northeast schools to experience the Civil Rights Movement firsthand. Hobbs's visit led directly to the recruitment of John Irick.
Source
Pomfret School records, 1963-01-01. Pomfret School Archives. Not publicly digitized; verified against internal institutional history.
Verified against The Spirit That Is Pomfret, internal institutional history
See Sources & MethodsFollow the thread
The six chapters
Continue with the evidenceSources & Methods