Commission approves $125k toward monument
The Anderson County Commission voted to commit $125,000 for an organization working to build a monument to the African American students who desegregated Oak Ridge Schools.
The students, known as the Scarboro 85, entered Robertsville Junior High and Oak Ridge High School on Sept. 6, 1955. The Scarboro 85 name refers to the Scarboro school and neighborhood from which the students came. The monument will be in A.K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge.The group working on the monument is the Scarboro 85 Monument Project.
The federal Atomic Energy Commission ordered this desegregation, which was the first desegregation of government-run schools in the southeastern U.S., predating the desegregation of Clinton High School by a year.
One Scarboro 85 student, L.C. Gipson, spoke at the meeting, thanking the Anderson County Commission for its support.
“Every little bit helps,” he said. “A lot of people don’t know that we were the first school to integrate in the Southeast, so spread the word.”
Commissioner Aaron Wells made the motion, and Commissioner Anthony Allen seconded. All 15 commissioners who were present voted for the measure, but Commissioner Michael Foster was absent.