N. C. Indians Cited In School Sit-Ins --Dunn, NC
A total of 21 students were arrested that day along with their parents. They were accused of violating a court order forbidding them from “engaging in sitting-in, picketing, trespassing or otherwise interfering with the normal operation” of the school. Judge W.H.S. Burgwyn of the Harnett Superior Court in Lillington directed the Dunn School Committee and the Harnett County Board of Education to appear at the hearing and stated he thought the whole affair something of “a tempest in a teapot” as he expresses the hope it could be settled amicably.
The American Friends Committee (AFSC) a Quaker organization that promotes peace with justice and respect for human life stepped in to help the students who refused to take the long 72-mile bus ride. The AFSC made arrangements to place the students throughout the State to live with families and to attend school until the court case was settled. Students were sent to Greensboro, High Point, and Raleigh. Hughie was sent to Cathedral Catholic School in Raleigh, where he attended for about six to eight weeks.
Back home, parents were still fighting in court to have their children admitted to the all-white school. Contempt orders were issued against the parents for aiding, abetting and encouraging their minor children to defy the restraining order issued by Judge W.H.S. Burgwyn. State Senator, Robert Morgan and I. Beverly Lake were the attorneys who represented the Harnett County Board of Education. They argued that allowing the Indian students’ admittance would destroy the State’s student assignment plan and could result in integration attempts to be made by black students. Handy Groves, a shoe shop operator, stated, “ We’ve been asking for a high school since 1954. They have had plenty of time to build us a school. We’re taxpayers and we’re going to continue this fight. We either want to get the students admitted to Dunn school or get school facilities provided for them now nearby. We don’t intend to send our children to Sampson County.“