Standing Tall Amid the Glares

Louis Cousins the only African American student in the newly desegregated Maury High School standing alone. Norfolk, Virginia. He graduated from the same high school in 1962 and currently resides in Texas with his family.

An article in the San Antonio Express News talks about how Cousins felt alone as he entered the school on his first day, amid "curious stares--and silence."

"This school was totally white, all white students," he said. "The only thing that might have been black was the staff that did the floors."

Aside from the isolation, Cousins also endured taunts. He recalled students would sit on the brick wall around the school before classes began and hurl insults as he walked by.

"We were called tar baby, nigger, Sambo in the hallways," recounted the 60-year-old Cousins.

At his home, tormenters broke out windows and once burned a cross in his front yard to "symbolize the KKK," he said.

The only time he lost his composure, Cousins recalled, was when a student spat on him. Cousins chased the classmate down the hall and into the principal's office. The student later was suspended.

After high school, Cousins joined the Air Force and worked as a medic in Vietnam. He lives in San Antonio, Texas and has retired as a medical technician.

Life Magazine
Paul Schutzer, Photographer