In February of 1971, six Wossman High School students, petitioned the City school board to declare Feb. 7 – 13 as Black History Week. Their petition was withdrawn. In a Monroe Morning World article (Feb. 18, 1971) it was explained by the Wossman committee they were told they didn’t need permission to put up bulletin boards and displays, just remove the label of Black History Week. On February 3, Neville students made a similar request. The board unanimously rejected Neville’s request. The board stated they had never designated a week for any purpose, if they did, they would have to honor any request before the board and unity would be disrupted if they honored this one. On February 8th, around 200 black students at both high schools got up and walked out of class. They were immediately suspended and not allowed back till the 11th. 33 of the students refused to come back after the suspension was over. They were then told if they wanted to come back, they had to appear before the Superintendent with their parents. 15 of them did, leaving the remaining suspended. Meanwhile at Richwood High, teachers created bulletin boards, students wrote papers on famous black historical figures and C.T. Toston spoke at a special assembly during the week. NLU was also having celebrations.
The suspended students asked for and were granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting Monroe City School Board from indefinitely suspending students without a hearing. In a contentious hearing, the order was later dissolved. Paul Kidd represented the students and called the Monroe Superintendent a liar! When he refused to apologize or pay a $10 fine, he was thrown in jail for an hour.
Protests continued at Wossman. Nine persons, mostly students, were arrested for trespassing on Wossman property after being told to leave. They were sentenced to 120 days in jail, but were let go after serving 19 days. In March, Carroll Ninth Grade Center was set on fire, doing $750,000 in damages.
The next year, the City Superintendent was let go and by 1974, Wossman was observing Black History Week.
Ouachita Parish History Tidbits 