In 1949, Willie Arbuckle, Robert Turner, Artie Mae Turner, Joella Arbuckle, Ernestine Jackson, Willie Ruth Payne, J. L. Payne, and Nina Loftan were the first eight Black students integrated Chandler High School, five years before the Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education integrated schools nationwide. After attending segregated schools in Mesa, Phoenix, and Chandler’s Goodyear School, these groundbreaking students opened the school year as juniors, sophomores, and freshmen at Chandler High.
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Willie had a younger sister, Joella, and a cousin, Ernestine Jackson Johnson, who were also part of the first eight black students that attended Chandler High School.
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To listen to a two part oral history interview of Willie Arbuckle recorded on December 20, 2002, click the icons below:
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