Which name best preserves history for school borne out of Miami’s civil rights battles?
A Richmond Heights school borne out of Miami’s civil rights battles with segregation may soon have a new name. Three up for consideration with Miami-Dade Schools: Al Dotson Sr., Johnnie Parris and Eddie Pearson.
In 1966, many schools in Dade County achieved desegregation by busing students.
Colonial Drive Elementary was different.
That same year it became the first school built with the intention of welcoming both Black and white students after the school district’s plans to build a de facto segregated elementary school, Richmond Heights Elementary, were foiled after the community opposed it.
Colonial Drive Elementary, 10755 SW 160th St., became integral to the Richmond Heights community, which was the first and largest private housing development built for Black World War II veterans, according to Dorothy Jenkins Fields, a historian, certified archivist and founder of Miami’s
The Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater.
Now, 56 years later, an effort to rename the school — and, more importantly, preserve its history — is underway.
Three names were proffered for consideration by the school district: Albert Dotson Sr., civic leader and former Florida International University trustee who died last year; Johnnie
Parris, a prominent Black female civil rights activist who, among other achievements, led the effort to build the school; and Eddie Pearson, who began as a teacher in the district and would become the deputy superintendent of school operations.
The window to submit a proposal and community input closed Thursday.
The district is expected to convene a committee — comprised of School Board Chair Perla Tabares Hantman; board member Luisa Santos, as she represents District 9, where the school is located; one member designated by Santos; the
South Region Superintendent, Barbara Mendizábal; and a community representative selected by
Mendizábal — to review the proposals and make a decision.
The committee will recommend one of the three names to the School Board, which will make the final decision, according to the district’s facilities renaming policy. As of Thursday, there was no timeline on the committee convening, district officials said.
SHE LED EFFORT TO BUILD THE SCHOOL
The Parris siblings began exploring ways to honor their mother’s legacy about three years ago, said Nicole Henderson, one of Johnnie Parris’ eight children. Parris died in 2007.
They wanted to not only preserve Parris’ name and work, but to “preserve the Black history of Richmond Heights and Colonial Drive,” she told the Herald. Henderson, along with five siblings, attended Colonial Drive Elementary. The two eldest sons did not attend, she said.
“Our goal is to preserve the history of our area, the history of the civil rights era [in Miami-Dade] and the history of our school,” which embodies the fight for educational equality and opportunity for all children in the community, she said. “That was the work my mother was involved with.”
When the Dade School Board in 1965 decided to build Richmond Heights Elementary, Johnnie Parris presented a petition with 1,400 signatures from Richmond Heights residents urging them to reconsider and instead build an integrated school, Colonial Drive Elementary, according to Henderson. (In 1997, Dade County changed its name to Miami-Dade County and the school board changed its name as well.)
After the district began construction of Richmond Heights Elementary, she led hundreds of residents to picket the construction site and surround bulldozers until the crews were forced to stop working, she said.
“She was on the front lines doing the work, but her name isn’t known. That’s the crux of what this is about,” she said. “Her name should be a part of recognizing the history of that school. History will be lost if any other name is [used].”
For a name to be considered in the renaming of a school, and if the person is deceased, one of the requirements is the individual proffered should be an outstanding civic or educational leader, or an individual who has made a “significant contribution to the field of education or humanity in general,” according to district policy.
HE WAS A CIVIC LEADER, FIU TRUSTEE
For the Dotson family, there are countless people in the community who meet that requirement, including the late patriarch of their family, Albert Dotson Sr., who became the first Black store manager in the history of Sears Roebuck & Company, and was involved in many Miami civic groups, including United Way, the MiamiDade Chamber of Commerce and the MiamiDade School Board.
He also chaired the FIU Board of Trustees from 2009-2011; in 2019, FIU renamed a pavilion after Dotson and his wife, Earlene, funded in part by a $1 million donation from their children.
In a written statement, the family said it supports the name change to Albert E. Dotson Sr., but it also strongly believes that “the history of Colonial Drive Elementary is of critical importance and we honor Mrs. Vivian Green, James and Wylamerle Marshall, Johnnie Parris, and all those that were instrumental in the building of [the school].”
Moreover, there is “overwhelming support” for recognizing Eddie Pearson for his “stellar commitment to educating Miami-Dade County youth.”
The family declined an interview request from the Herald.
HE ROSE FROM TEACHER TO DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT
Lula Gordon Pearson, Eddie Pearson’s widow, was unaware her late husband’s name had been proffered.
Instead, it was Sharon Pottinger, a “concerned citizen” who used to work within Miami-Dade Schools, who offered his name for consideration at a public hearing Feb. 10.
“She called me the next day and explained to me that what [Eddie] had accomplished in the district was deserving [of recognition], and I agreed,” Lula Pearson told the Herald. The family had no direct connection with the school, she said.
“He was always willing to help the students and community of Miami Dade,” Pottinger said. “As an educator, I felt it was necessary to put forward his name. It would be perfect because he’s done so much for the students of the district, specifically in the South Region.”
Pearson’s 39-year tenure with the school district included being a teacher, a middle school principal, a high school principal and rising to deputy superintendent of school operations. He died in 2006.
EFFORTS TO RESTRICT TEACHING OF BLACK HISTORY
The renaming of Colonial Drive Elementary — built more than a decade after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 1954 in Brown vs.
Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional — comes as efforts to limit conversations about race and racism in schools gains support across Florida and the country.
A bill pending in the Florida Legislature, HB 7, has been criticized for what critics say will lead to a whitewashing of Black and Native American history. The bill, which calls for “revising requirements for required instruction on the history of African Americans,” among other measures, passed in the House in February and the Senate’s version passed the Education Committee Jan. 18.
That’s why preserving the school’s history — and what it took to build it — is all the more important, said Mauricette Parris. In a lot of ways, her mother’s name memorializes the effort it took to build the school, she said.
“We shouldn’t be hiding that it took pushback for it to happen,” she said. “It’s a good thing, because the board turned around and changed [its plans]. That’s progress. The minute someone else’s name gets put on the school, the history of what it took is lost.”
Moreover, she said, the family has no plans to look for another school to rename should the effort fail because the history and long-standing connections are with Colonial Drive.
Her brother, Maurice Parris, in a separate interview with the Herald, said he’s disappointed the effort has the appearance of a clash among African American families. The renaming process, he said, “could have been a joint effort.”
“Does [Albert Dotson Sr.] deserve a school?
Sure, but this particular school has history, and it would be an injustice for [Johnnie Parris] and the school to name it anything other than her name because there wouldn’t be a tie,” he said.
Still, the siblings agree this isn’t a competition.
(In its statement, the Dotson family said it “will not campaign against any other name proffered.”)
The name-changing was always about “recognizing the historical nature of the school and preserving that,” Henderson said. “But as African Americans in the community, we deserve more recognition than one school.”