The story of the Courageous Four

The year was 1964. Johnson was president.

America was still years away from putting Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon.

But, for all the progress, the nation was slow to make the 1954 Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan. a reality. That decision said segregation was unconstitu-tional.

Prince William County began to integrate its public schools, gradually, starting in 1964.

Four outstanding teachers -- Mary Glaze Porter, Fannie W. Fitzgerald, Maxine Coleman and Zella Brown were selected from three of county's all-black elementary schools -- Washington Reid near Dumfries, Jennie Dean in Manassas and Antioch McCrae in Broad Run.

The four became the first teachers to integrate Prince William County schools, and were recently honored for their role in local civil rights history by the Prince William County Human Rights Commission at the Universal Human Rights Day Celebration.

They earned a place in history as "The Courageous Four," even though some of the four feel they were merely doing their jobs, many now recognize the significance of what they overcame so many years ago.

Mary Glaze Porter

Regardless of how much courage Mary Glaze Porter needed to be the first black teacher to inte-grate Dumfries Elementary School, it was, at the very least, convienient for her. She practically lived right across the street from the formerly all-white school.

"My mom could literally walk from our house across a vacant lot that we owned, to the elementary school," her daughter Gwen Porter Washington said.

Porter died from a heart attack in 1992 at the age of 72.

Her husband, J. Wilmer Porter, who served on the Dumfries town council, was the first elected black official in Virginia since Reconstruction.

"It was an amazing time," Washington, a behavior specialist and retired teacher living in Dumfries, said.

If her mother encountered any discrimination, Washington said that she and her sister, Hazel Porter Sykes, never knew about it. Sykes was in high school at the time, Washington in college.

"That took a lot of courage," Washington said. "For my mom, she went there with confidence, but still not sure how they were going to accept her in this new role… I'm sure there were some uncomfortable moments, but to us, she made it to be an experience that was very rewarding to her, to the parents and to the children involved."

Washington said her mother was so successful that the following school year white parents wanted their children in her mother's class. She retired from Dumfries Elementary School in the early 1980s.

"It really left a legacy for my sister and I and all the members of my family," Washing-ton said.

Fannie W. Fitzgerald

Fannie W. Fitzgerald's eyes filled with tears when Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama came up in conversation. "I get chills, to see how far we have come," Fitz-gerald said. "I was born and raised in complete segregation. … We had been ostracized all of our lives."

In 1956, she moved to the county from Amelia, Va., to take a job at Antioch McCrae Elementary school, in the west end of the county. She taught there for eight years, before transferring to teach fourth grade at Jennie Dean High School (kindergarten through 11th grade), she said.

Two weeks into her second year, the principal asked her and Maxine Coleman, a fellow teacher, to come to the office. About 10 years after the Supreme Court decide schools should be inte-grated, Prince William would begin its integration.

"We were in favor of that," said Fitzgerald, whose daughter, Bonita Fitzgerald, won a gold medal for 100-meter hurdles in the 1984 Olympics. "We got second hand everything -- seats, books."

Fitzgerald said she thought she and Coleman would integrate the following semester. Instead, she left for Fred M. Lynn Middle and Elementary School when she went two days later (at the time, Lynn had both elementary and middle school students, Fitzgerald said).

"I felt proud to have been chosen," Fitzgerald said. "I felt that I was a good teacher and I decided to try it and try my best. … There was not another black soul in the building, not even the custodian. I did what I had to do. Back in those times when a white person asked a black person to do something they had to do it. … We were afraid to go against the rules and regulations, especially further south."

She met her students and reminded herself that these were just like any other children.

"Of course I was afraid, but when I went there, everything vanished," Fitzgerald said.

Later, she learned her class had been handpicked with area military children who were accus-tomed to being around black people.

She met the parents that night at a PTA meeting.

"They really accepted me with open arms," Fitzgerald said. "I had no problems whatsoever."

There were problems, however, during later years -- discrimination outside the classroom when buying a house and from a principal when serving as an elementary supervisor.

"I won't say his name, he just refused to accept me as a black woman in the position I was in," Fitzgerald said. "All of the other principals were just super."

Maxine Coleman

Maxine Coleman didn't think integration would ever happen. Sure, people were talking about it, but laws had been on the books since the 1950s. To her, it was one of those things that might not ever happen.

Coleman said it was a bright and sunny day when she got the call to go to the principal's office.

"I was happy… that I was one of the four," said Coleman, 86, of Manassas. "Evidentially my previous activities in the classroom were favorable to my superiors and also the parents."

Coleman said she was nervous because she had not had much interaction with white people prior to integration and like Fitzgerald, she only had a couple of days to transition from Jennie Dean to Featherstone Elementary School. She taught fifth grade at both schools.

Coleman said "courageous" might be the wrong word to describe her. For her, it was just doing what she was required to do.

"I wasn't afraid at all, I was just hoping I would go along with what I thought they wanted me to do," Coleman said. "It didn't take a lot of courage… we just fell right on it, we knew what we had to do and we did it."

She also said she never encountered any discrimination throughout her 45-year teaching ca-reer.

"Everything just fell right into place," Coleman said. "We got along beauti-fully."

Zella Brown

Zella Brown was only given one day's notice when she was selected to desegregate Prince William County Schools.

"It was a surprise. It was also an honor, and anxiety began to set in," said Brown, 72, a teacher for 30 years. "It was a whole uncharted territory for me. But, in a sense it was exciting, because it was a change, hopefully for the best."

Her transfer from Antioch McCrae to Loch Lomond Elementary School in Manassas took place within 24 hours. She said there was not really a lot of time to dwell on the anxiety because everything happened so fast -- and there were a lot of preparations to be made from the transition from fourth to second grade.

"The reception was warm, the students received me warmly," Brown said. She said the faculty members also offered their help. "It was a very successful first day."

But right out of college, she took a job teaching fourth grade at Antioch McCrae. She taught there until Prince William County's integration.

"It was in the air, but I was at a small black school at Antioch," Brown said. "I kept thinking, I said, 'It's going to happen, but who knows when?' And it was certainly time for it."

She said the superintendent, Stuart Beville, came to Antioch one day to ask if she would transfer to an all white school.

Once at Lomond, she said there was never any apparent hostility or discrimination, but the title "Courageous Four" is "appropriate."

"It was a lot to weigh when I was approached with this," Brown said. "It takes some nerve to take part in this historic moment, to take part in this adventure… It was an unforgettable experience and I am deeply honored."

Brown said she was even aware, at the time, which she was making history. She taught at Lo-mond for 25 years before retiring in 1991. Today, she even runs into old students around Manas-sas, and learns how their lives have unfolded since their time together at Lomond.

"That's the real job," Brown said.

Staff Writer Josh Eiserike can be reached at 703-878-8072 or jeiserike@potomacnews.com.