Chandler High School Integration 1949-1950

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 into 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.  Willie Arbuckle and Robert Turner became the first Black students to graduate from the school in 1951. 

Open 1950 Chandler High School Freshman	Open 1950 Chandler High School Freshman: J.L. Payne, Nina Loftan, Willie Ruth Payne