Marvin Curtis Jones Sr. remembers hitchhiking from his family’s farm to Brunswick High School in Lawrenceville every morning during his senior year. He avoided riding the school bus that stopped near his home because he didn’t want to endure racial slurs from white students.

Now, 60 years later at a panel discussion at the Library of Virginia last Thursday night, Jones — along with five other alumni of Brunswick High School re-lived the history of the post-Civil rights era commemorating the anniversary of Brunswick’s desegregation in 1964.

Six surviving members of the “Brunswick 15,” a group of Black students who integrated Brunswick High School in Virginia during the tumultuous era of desegregation, shared their stories of perseverance and triumph. Queen Marks Birchette, Carolyn Burwell-Tolbert, Elvertha Cox Gillis, Sandra Goldman Jackson, Marvin Jones Sr. and Florence Stith-Jackson recounted their experiences of racial discrimination and alienation among their white classmates.

Brunswick High School was desegregated on Sept. 9, 1964, a decade after the Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education, a landmark ruling that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. The 15 students from the neighboring James S. Russell High School (now known as James S. Russell Middle School) were desegregated to Brunswick High.

The discussion was moderated by Brian Daugherity, a professor of history at Virginia Commonwealth University, whose research focuses on the implementation of the Brown v. Board of Education decision in Virginia.

“It [Brown v. Board of Education] did not lead to immediate or even rapid school desegregation in the South, including in the state of Virginia.” Daugherity explained the slow progression of school desegregation.

Right after completing elementary school, Stith-Jackson recalled going straight to James S. Russell High since there was no middle school at the time. She was then given an opportunity to transfer to Brunswick High. Stith-Jackson still remembers her first day of school.

“I was expecting to show them that I was not an animal, that I was okay, I was normal and that they could be friends with me. I never got that chance,” she said.

Instead, she encountered white students calling her the n-word and other racial slurs. Despite being strong in math and science, her math teacher at Brunswick failed her one semester, making her repeat the class. After she left Brunswick, Stith-Jackson graduated with a bachelor’s from Virginia State University and eventually became an educator and school administrator.

Elvertha Cox Gillis, self-described as a rebellious and unrefined teenager, shared a time when she got called into the principal’s office after fighting with a male classmate.

Once she got inside the principal’s office, she told the last week’s Library of Virginia audience, the principal called her a, “Negro girl,” which was followed by heavy gasps from the crowd.

“I got on [the principal’s] desk and I told him, ‘My name is Elvertha Cox, repeat after me.’ I mean, I was a little person for my age,”

Cox Gillis said. “I said, ‘if you say it again, I’m going to clench you in your heart.’”

Cox Gillis was suspended from school for 10 days, but after her mother negotiated with the principal the next day, Gillis was ordered back to class. The once rebellious teenager eventually returned to Brunswick High as an educator, then assistant principal.

“Through it all, it was a life learning experience, and if I had to do it again, I would do the same thing over again,” she said.

Jones served 35 years as a teacher and counselor for Richmond Public Schools, retiring as a counselor in 2006 at Thomas Jefferson High School. He received an Unsung Hero Award from the National Association of University Women in April.

Jones said while overt discrimination has decreased, racism persists in more subtle forms.

“There’s a lot of hidden racism today,” he said. “There are people whose attitudes have not changed.”

Jones added he would prefer direct confrontation to concealed prejudice.

“I prefer somebody to call me (racial slur) than to hate me and I not know you were hating me,” he said. “I would know where that person is coming from.”

Catherine Fitzgerald-Wyatt, The Library of Virginia’s director of education and outreach, added that it is important to listen to others’ lived experiences.

“Take the time to listen to one another … then hopefully, build empathy for others,” said Fitzgerald-Wyatt. “I think we can all be change makers in our own communities.”