Reunion planned for RPS’ 1972 high school graduates
Jeremy M. Lazarus | 10/27/2022, 6 p.m.
Fifty years ago, thousands of Richmond students were daily boarding school buses to carry out a federal court order to integrate the city’s public schools.
This weekend, more than 300 people who earned their high school diplomas in 1972 will gather to catch up and reminisce about their experiences as the first graduates of the busing era.
“This event will bring together students from the seven high schools that had graduating classes in that first year of busing,” said Bernadine Mills Givens, a Maggie L. Walker High School graduate who spearheaded the event.
The three-day 1972 Reunion Gala is open to alums of Armstrong, Huguenot, Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, John Marshall, Maggie Walker and George Wythe high schools, Ms. Givens said.
The three-day affair is scheduled to open with a meet-and-greet from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28, at the Claude G. Perkins Living and Learning Center at Virginia Union University.
The main event, a gala dinner-dance, also will be at the center from 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29.
The celebration is to wrap up with worship 9 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 30, at St. Paul’s Baptist Church, 4247 Creighton Road in Henrico County, Ms. Givens said.
This is the latest event for the Richmond classes of 1972, she said. With the help of other graduates, she has previously staged 40-year and 45-year reunions and other events since 2012.
For details or to participate: Ms. Givens, (804) 437-5877 or Givensbm@gmail.com.
