NEW ORLEANS– History tells us that three young girls integrated the public schools in New Orleans in November of 1960.
One of the three was Leona Tate. We met her at her 9th Ward Living Museum and she told us about that time.
Tate says, “When I woke up. I remember my house being filled with people. You would have thought it was Christmas morning. Everybody was doing something. I remember a black car pulling up in front of the house. It was the U.S. Marshals coming to pick us up. I knew I was going to a new school. I knew that. When we turned the corner, the only thing that I could think was that a parade was coming and that I had to go to school while everybody else was out there watching the parade. We were the only 3 students in the building for a year and a half.”
Tate also said, “I visit a lot of schools, and a lot of the children today don’t know the history that happened right in their city.”
“New Orleans has a lot of history and a lot of culture that we are losing if we don’t continue telling the story and teaching our children.”>
The Leona Tate Foundation and The Lower 9th Ward Living Museum is located at 1235 Deslonde Street.
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