I guess you might call some of them lowlifes because of what

Fuqua School looks to African American football star to shatter racist legacy

canada goose coats FARMVILLE, Va. Nearly 50 years after it opened as a sanctuary for white students in a county canada goose outlet edmonton that resisted school desegregation to canada goose outlet trillium parka black the very end, the Fuqua School wanted badly to prove its racist days were over. canada goose coats

canada goose deals The private school in this town on the banks of the Appomattox River accepted its first black student in the late 1980s. But canada goose outlet in chicago the black community canada goose outlet store quebec here still knew Fuqua as central Virginia’s most famous “segregation academy.” canada goose deals

canadian goose jacket It was still viewed, well into the 21st century, as a symbol of defiance to the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. It was still seen as a place where canada goose outlet sale black students were unwelcome. canadian goose jacket

Canada Goose Parka To shed canada goose outlet los angeles that image, Fuqua canada goose outlet mississauga needed a black student ambassador. Canada Goose Parka

canada goose coats on sale So in 2008 the school’s president, Ruth Murphy, sat down with Charles Williams, a freshman from the local public high school. Football coaches had canada goose outlet toronto factory arranged the meeting. Williams happened to be a quarterback with a powerful throwing arm who could burst through tacklers. canada goose outlet toronto address He was faster and stronger than boys years older. canada goose coats on sale

The two met canada goose outlet 80 off in canada goose stockists uk Murphy’s office and considered each other.

buy canada goose jacket “All I’d heard canada goose outlet legit was that this was the ‘white school,'” Williams recalled. “I was from the ‘black school.’ I didn’t really know what to do or how to act.” buy canada goose jacket

buy canada goose jacket cheap Murphy, a sparrow of a woman, also felt a bit unsure. “Here was this big strong guy. He was only 14, but he looked like a 25 year old drug dealer,” she recalled in an interview. When asked later what she meant by that description, Murphy acknowledged that it was canada goose outlet vancouver a poor choice of words but said that she canada goose clothing uk meant to convey his “maturity and intensity.” buy canada goose jacket cheap

Canada Goose online Murphy laid out her offer. Williams could receive Fuqua’s first full minority scholarship, covering the $7,300 tuition. But there was a condition: He would have to promote Fuqua among Farmville’s black residents. Canada Goose online

canada goose clearance Farmville, population 8,200, the seat of Prince Edward County, is one of dozens of towns across the South where private schools canada goose outlet online store sprang up in the 1950s and ’60s to serve an all white clientele after public schools were ordered to desegregate. Prince Edward closed its public schools from 1959 to 1964 rather than complying. It was among the last school systems in the country canada goose outlet orlando to give up the fight. canada goose clearance

In the period of “massive resistance” to Brown v. Board, the Prince Edward Academy was founded canada goose outlet hong kong for white students in 1959. The private school, later renamed Fuqua, was canada goose outlet online reviews subsidized by tax dollars. Black students in Prince Edward were forced to drop out or move.

“That history left deep scars,” Murphy said. “In the black community, it made it very hard to see Fuqua as being anything other than racist.”

Canada Goose Outlet Other private schools in the South with a similar past are asking the same question as Fuqua. How do you diversify an institution founded to perpetuate canada goose outlet phone number segregation? Canada Goose Outlet

Canada Goose sale The answer, Murphy said, is to find a black leader who is comfortable in two worlds. Canada Goose sale

cheap Canada Goose “I thought canada goose outlet uk to myself, if I can find an African American student who says, ‘I’m at Fuqua and it’s great,’ it would be more valuable than anything else I could do.” cheap Canada Goose

As a freshman, Williams was struggling at Prince Edward County High. He and his canada goose outlet ottawa mother worried that he wasn’t getting the attention he needed. At Fuqua, they thought, he might get a better education.

Canada Goose Jackets And with the school’s connections, Williams might have a better chance at playing Division I college football. Canada Goose Jackets

canada goose clearance sale But he would canada goose outlet london uk have to tell canada goose outlet montreal friends, relatives and fans that he had signed up with a school that many hated. Some warned him that if he canada goose outlet factory made the switch, they would never watch another one of his games. canada goose clearance sale

He thought about it for less than a week. Then he said yes.

“It wasn’t long canada goose outlet after,” said his mother, Gloria Jenkins, “that I lost all my friends.”

History creeps up

Now 17, Williams is a senior and captain of Fuqua’s football Falcons. He is known for inspiring pep talks and tenacity on the field. The school says its bet on Williams paid off. Fifteen of Fuqua’s 420 students are black, up from five when he enrolled. And the athletic director calls Williams the best athlete in the canada goose parka uk school’s history.

Fuqua is near the center of Farmville, a patchwork of residential streets surrounded by miles of farmland. Neighboring towns are monuments to dead industries and more canada goose outlet online uk profitable years, with canada goose discount uk names such as Tobaccoville and Cotton Town and Allens Mill.

canada goose store In the school’s parking lot, someone has scrawled “Coonhunter” on the asphalt to mark one spot. There’s a swimming pool in the middle of the sprawling campus. Students leave backpacks on the ground without worry. In a bathroom, someone has carved the words “White Power” into a stall a trace of the troubled past. canada goose store

“The school canada goose outlet near me has changed, and people here have changed. But you can’t totally eradicate those prejudices,” Murphy said.

One fall afternoon, Williams leaves Fuqua for a weekly ritual: a pregame visit to his barber shop. He drives a family car through a poor neighborhood that is almost entirely black, full of men who wave at him. Williams’s home looks much canada goose outlet las vegas like these the reflection of a family https://www.winterdownparkas.com struggling to stay afloat.

“People at school look at this street like it’s the ghetto,” Williams says, waving canada goose uk back. “But I grew up with these guys. I’ve known them forever. I guess you might call some of them lowlifes because of what they’re into, but I’m not going to judge them.”

canada goose Everyone at Tony Tucker’s barber shop knows Williams. He grew up running footraces against a Rottweiler in front of Tucker’s house canada goose.