Delois Huntley

Delois Huntley (June 2, 1945 – May 10, 2015) was an American civil rights pioneer and one of four black students to integrate Charlotte schools, by enrolling in the all-White Alexander Graham Junior High. Her first day experiences were less eventful than a few of the other desegregation pioneers such as Dorothy Counts. However she had negative experiences throughout her time in Alexander Graham Junior High.

Biography Huntley was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and grew up in the predominantly Black neighborhood Second Ward, also called Brooklyn, which was just three blocks from Alexander Graham Junior High. In 1956, forty Black students from North Carolina applied to transfer to a white school was after the passing of the Pearsall Plan.

Huntly was only twelve-years-old when she enrolled in Alexander Graham Junior High. She was encouraged by her parents to enroll. She later told the Charlotte Observer that her parents realized it was for the greater good, "Somebody had to go first."

Throughout her time in Alexander Graham, Huntley would be bumped in the hallways or spat on. At one point during a boy wiped the sweat from his brow onto her face, and some students would whisper disturbing things to Huntley. Her funeral was held at St. Paul Baptist Church in east Charlotte.