Philadelphia Race Riots, Spring 1969, by Anonymous
From MemoryArchive
Who: Anonymous What: Philadelphia Race Riots When: Spring 1969 Where: Philadelphia, PA
It was the spring of 1969 in West Philadelphia. I was a senior education major at Drexel University. This was the long awaited time that I would student teach for a semester. My finances were limited because I was the oldest of four children and the first in my family to attend college. I worked two and sometimes three jobs in order to earn book, food, and spending money. So when it came time to select a high school in which to student teach, my choices were limited to schools I could reach using public transportation. West Philadelphia High School was the closest school that could be reached by a bus. At that time West Philadelphia High School was in an improvised area.
Racial riots had been occurring all over the country and Philadelphia was no different than any other city. Feelings were tense for everyone during this time. It caused West Philadelphia High to have locks on the inside of classrooms so that teachers could lock themselves and their students in classrooms. Doors did not have clear glass but were either solid doors or ones with frosted panes. You did not want anyone to be able to see who was in a room. Today in the name of safety, locks on the inside of classroom doors and frosted or solid doors are unheard of.
One day riots broke out on the street in front of the high school. I was on an upper floor of the building and could see students throwing typewriters out of the school windows. I watched students and neighbors overturn police cars and set them on fire. I watched the police arrive in riot gear. I watched them as they were pelted with bottles and stones while attempting to clear the streets. The riot was eventually squelched and I was escorted by two policemen out of the building to a safe location to wait for my bus back to the dormitory.
As a 20 year old college student this was extremely frightening but a very real part of the times. I numbered among the people who felt that there was just cause for protest and a need for change but little did I ever realize that I would be trapped by a riot. I reported for work on Monday and everything went on as if nothing happened in the community and in the school.
The events that occurred during these years - Vietnam War, deaths of both Kennedy's and Martin Luther King, Jr., racial unrest - shaped an entire generation of young people forever. However, each generation is shaped by some outside forces and then looks at current events and situations through a different filter.
