Teenage girl, 15, begins her first day of school. She is greeted by her classmates, many of whom are their parents, who make fun of her, call her names, and throw debris and rocks at her. Parents have encouraged girls to spit on her.
As part of the early push to desegregate schools in that city, Dorothy Counts was one of the first black students accepted to Harry Harding High School in Charlotte, North Carolina. She put up with staff members' and students' insults for four days. Nobody in authority spoke up for her. Law police stated that they couldn't guarantee her safety when they were made aware of the threats made against her and her family.
There was no defence for Dorothy, unlike in Little Rock where a federalized National Guard and 1,000 army paratroopers enforced the court's desegregation order. For a brief period of time, Dorothy was upbeat; she told her parents, "If they only get to know me, they'll like me."
However, the threats escalated in severity. The family automobile of the Counts was damaged. In order to complete her sophomore year at an integrated public school, Dorothy left Harding High and moved in with her aunt and uncle in Yeadon, Pennsylvania. Returning to Charlotte ultimately, she enrolled at Johnson C. Smith University and graduated with a psychology degree in 1964.
Dorothy "Dot" Counts-Scoggins still resides in her childhood neighbourhood in west Charlotte. Her workplace wall displays the well-known black and white photograph of her from that first day. She has devoted her professional life to public education as a mentor, lecturer, and administrator of childcare programmes. "Make sure no child ever goes through what I went through," is her life's mission.
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