I entered the first grade at East End Elementary in Humboldt, TN in 1965. There was a Kindergarten in the community building at Bailey Park the prior year but I did not attend. All through elementary school there was little change in the student body. A few kids moved in, a few moved out, but it was pretty much the same children each year. There were a handful of black children at East End Elementary during my years there so it wasn't completely segregated but it pretty much was.
In the fall of 1970, the Humboldt white and black school systems integrated into one system. Also in the fall of 1970, Old Hickory Academy (USJ now) opened in Jackson, TN. The new school was about 13 miles away from Humboldt and many of the children of the more prominent families in Humboldt transferred to Old Hickory. Some of the leading families, such as the Jones and the Stallings, kept their children in Humboldt but there was a definite mass exodus from that side of town. It was decided by the new consolidated school system in Humboldt, that the Stigall Hornets and the Humboldt Rams would now become the Humboldt Vikings.
When I graduated from Humboldt High School in 1977, there were twelve members of the graduating class at Old Hickory that I had gone through grades 1-5 at East End Elementary with. All of these students were white, of course. There were similar numbers of Humboldt children in the other grades at Old Hickory at that time. So you can do the math and see roughly how many children (and families) we lost in 1970.
Milan, TN is about 12 miles northeast of Humboldt and 20 miles from Jackson. The city of Milan has roughly the same population as Humboldt and they are both in Gibson County. They went through the same consolidation of school systems along the same time lime as Humboldt did. Curiously, a much smaller number of the Milan children left for Old Hickory Academy during this period. Also, when the Polk-Clark Buffaloes merged with the Milan Bulldogs, the school system chose to keep the Milan Bulldog mascot.
Humboldt and Milan were very similar communities in 1970 but the two towns are markedly different today. I have lived in each city for a substantial time within the last 10 years and I found noticable differences in the general quality of life between the cities . I wish it was not so but I can't deny it. By anyone's standards, the Milan School System is more successful than the Humboldt School System at educating their students. The proportion of white students to black students remained about the same in Humboldt for several years after 1970 but then more and more white students began to leave, both proportionately and in sheer numbers. Milan may have lost some of their white students to private or neighboring public schools through the years but nothing like Humboldt did.
Was it just the 8 more miles of driving that the Milan families would have had to navigate that made them stay in 1970? Was it a difference in the attitude of those in leadership when integration was implemented? Is is possible that just a few key people in, or not in, positions of leadership in their respective communities made all the difference? Did the compromise on the mascot in Humboldt versus the keeping of the mascot in Milan signify something much more significant about the character or attitude of the communities at that time?
I don't know why there was such a different reaction by families in Milan and Humboldt back then but I'm sure it was due to a combination of factors. In almost all things, there is more gray than black and white. I do believe that the exodus of so many of the children of Humboldt's leading families marked the beginning of the end of Humboldt's best days. Many of the parents of those children, particularly the mothers who were more likely to be stay-at-home moms for socio-economic reasons, would have been leaders in supporting the Humboldt schools and school and community activities. These parents generally had more time, resources, and even more education that would have enabled them to lead and help to keep the standards up by serving in the school system and on the school board. They would have been involved in more general community activities in Humboldt, as well, if their children had stayed in Humboldt Schools.
Don't get me wrong, Humboldt had (and has) plenty of good parents left and many fine people supported us, educated us, and volunteered to help us in our schools and community. I am very grateful for the people who supported me while I attended Humboldt Schools and while I "attempted" to grow up in Humboldt. I should also point out that many of the private school parents remained active in our churches and in community events, especially with the Strawberry Festival. That said, I've come to believe that this singular event, the mass withdrawal by so many of Humboldt's leading families from their hometown school system, was a blow that the town of Humboldt has never recovered from. It wounded the community and, furthermore, it set the stage for the systematic white flight that followed and which has left the town a shell of the Humboldt I was fortunate to grow up in.
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