Prateek Seela and Walter Hawkins

Description

Walter Hawkins graduated from Jones High School in Orlando’s Parramore neighborhood in 1971 - just after the Black school integrated.

Growing up, he had to use bathrooms and water fountains that were marked “colored.” Going to the movies, he had to sit in the balcony seats, and was not allowed on the main level. At certain restaurants, he had to get his food to go - out the back door.

“Jones (High School) had been one of the schools that was, politically, on the drawing board to be closed,” Hawkins said. “There were several walkouts in the 60s that went down to the Orange County School Board and said no, you can’t close Jones High School. And because of that effort, Jones is still standing today.”

Hawkins sat down with Prateek Seela, a current senior at Lake Highland Preparatory School to learn about the history of segregation in Orange County.

“I didn't even think about the idea that the community I'm standing in today could have been segregated once upon a time,” Seela said. “And so I will definitely keep the weight of that, and the weight of our history in Orange County, definitely, in my mind going forward.”

Participants

• aaboraya
  
• Prateek Seela
  
• Walter Hawkins
  

Interview By

• aaboraya