Joyce Russell Terrell writes book on how she integrated Gar-Field High

The first day of school can be anxiety-producing: new teachers, new subjects, even new classmates in some cases.

Joyce Russell Terrell’s first day at Gar-Field Senior High School in September 1961 was like that — only times a thousand.

Terrell was the first black student to attend Gar-Field. Her groundbreaking step into the Woodbridge institution made for quite a scene. Two policemen were in front of her, and two followed.

And nearly five decades later, Terrell’s memories make for quite a story in “A Blues Song of My Own,” a book she has written about integration in Prince William County and her family’s role in it.

“Nothing is sugarcoated,” Terrell said in a phone interview from Atlanta, where she lives now.

She said her father, the Rev. James P. Russell, who was president of the NAACP in Northern Virginia, had decided it was up to his family to end segregation in Prince William.

“My dad told me, ‘I want you to integrate Gar-Field High School,’ ” Terrell said.

That obviously took some doing. But after government officials and lawyers had their say, the then-13-year-old Joyce Russell was escorted into Gar-Field by Emmylou Harris, then a cheerleader and now a renowned country singer.

“They would call her the ‘N- Lover,’ ” Terrell said.

Terrell herself went through all manner of torments.

“These kids had never gone to an integrated school before,” she recalled. “They had no idea what to expect.”

However, at her lowest moment, Terrell got quite a boost: an encouraging phone call from civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph. He told her to fight the good fight, and so she did.

Years later, she also would hear from a woman who was in Gar-Field on that historic day. The woman admitted to simply putting her head down in tacit agreement with the taunts instead of welcoming Terrell.

Terrell’s siblings faced similar challenges. Sister Deborah and brother Cameron integrated Occoquan Elementary School, and brother Jimmy was the first black student at Fred Lynn Middle School.

Life at home could be as treacherous as life at school, too. At the time, the NAACP had to operate in such secrecy that the group met in the basements of homes and churches.

The Rev. Russell was able to get a coworker to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan, though, and the hate group was none too pleased.

On a hot July night, they came to the Russells’ house on Hoadly Road with guns.

“Our house was being shot up,” Terrell recalled.

She remembers her dad going outside in his boxer shorts and returning fire with two guns of his own.

The next morning, then-U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy sent federal marshals to Woodbridge to take Terrell to safety in North Carolina.

The Russell family also attended Medgar Evers’ memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery with the Kennedy children and participated in the March on Washington in 1963.

“We didn’t realize it at the time just how powerful a man he was,” Deborah Russell said of her father.

Terrell said she hopes that today’s students can learn from her harrowing school experiences.

“I wrote in a way that the students can read it,” she said.

She and her sister also have developed a dramatic presentation that complements the book.

The title of both works comes from the fact that the siblings’ great aunt was the famous blues singer Bessie Smith.

The Russells apparently inherited those entertainment genes.

Deborah Russell is a singer, Jimmy Russell has recorded with Prince and Terrell worked in Hollywood during the “blaxploitation” era.

But her main job now is to market “A Blues Song of My Own,” available from CASI Publishing.

She plans to promote the book in a trip here later this month, with stops including Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Her father served as pastor there, and her parents helped to start Action in the Community Through Service, too.

Terrell said she can even remember her folks coming up with the organization’s name and acronym in the family’s living room.