Sixty years after the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited Malverne, the school district assembled a panel to commemorate his legacy on May 19. Students from Malverne High School interviewed several alumni, along with Mayor Tim Sullivan, about how King’s visit impacted the community.
On May 11 and 12, 1965, King visited the Malverne school district, one of the first in New York state to be desegregated. “I believe it was a real turning point for our communities, which carries through into the school itself,” said Sullivan, in conversation with students Isabella Ramharakh and Alyssa Elias, and civil rights activist and Malverne alumnus class of ’75, Frederick Brewington.
Brewington, a Lakeview native who was a student when King visited, reflected on the impact the event had on him and his family. “There was a part of me that was resolved with the fact that I had a chance to meet one of the greatest men of the 20th century,” Brewington said.
Malverne historian Don Pupke reviewed the history of the Malverne and Lakeview communities as well as the Malverne school district and its legacy of desegregation. Pupke detailed the development of Lakeview, when predominantly African-American World War II veterans used their GI benefits to move into the area in search of the American Dream, creating a vibrant minority community.
Pupke recounted the history of the disparity in the racial makeup of Malverne’s public and private schools, highlighting the overcrowding of the predominantly minority Woodfield Road school in Lakeview. “When Dr. Martin Luther King arrived in Lakeview in 1965, he encountered a district torn by racial division,” Pupke said. “He carried to us his message of peace, and hope, and nonviolence.”
Malverne students welcomed graduates of Malverne High School to a discussion panel, and asked them about their time in the community. Rosie Christopher, class of 1969, and Hazel Gibbons, class of ’70, were two of the 137 students who were arrested at the high school on May 17, 1969, for peacefully protesting the failure of the district to meet Black students’ demands.
“I’ve never forgotten that experience, and because of it I have to credit Malverne in understanding the depth of inequity,” Gibbons said. “Malverne has taught me how to reaffirm yourself separately.”
“My mother caught a teacher snatching my coat and pulling me around, and she had to rectify that immediately,” Christopher recounted. “She instilled in me activism, and that’s why I went to jail that day.”
The students who were arrested that day pioneered the movement for equality in the community.
The panel also welcomed former NBA player Al Skinner, Malverne High class of ’70, who joined the discussion remotely. “One of the great things about Malverne is there’s a sense of community and a sense of pride within the community,” Skinner said. “And because of that, I think the Malverne/Lakeview community instills a certain motivation to be successful.”
The civil rights era in Malverne encompassed issues in the schools’ curriculums. Student demands that were approved included the teaching of Black history and literature courses, assigning Black instructors to teach them, and more. Demands that were rejected included renaming Howard T. Herber Middle School simply Malverne Middle School, halting production of the play “Wonderful Town” due to concerns about racial discrimination in its casting, and closing all district schools on Dr. King’s birthday.
Sixty years later, Malverne is still feeling the effects of that era. The community is thriving, but according to many of its residents, there is still much more progress to be made. Nonetheless, King’s visit left a profound impact on both Malverne and Lakeview. He inspired the students of that time to stand up for justice, paving the way for students of the present, who continue those efforts. And with last weeks discussions including voices of the past and present, the pursuit of equality is clearly still alive in the community.
