Interview with Dwight Rigsby

Dwight Rigsby 00:00
I got my first vaccine, so I feel a little more comfortable.

Vernon Fleming 00:04
And I'm getting my second on Monday.

Dwight Rigsby 00:06
Yeah, that's kind of been a long time coming.

Vernon Fleming 00:09
Okay. So we'll go and get started. My name is Vernon Fleming and I'm interviewing Dwight Rigsby about the Freedom of Choice initiation and integration of Louisa County High School in 1965. So, if you don't mind also just stating your name and what year you attended Louisa County High School.

Dwight Rigsby 00:28
My name is to Dwight Rigsby and I was there eighth grade through the 12th. So that would have been 62 through... Graduated in 67.

Vernon Fleming 00:36
Okay, what grade were you in when school integrated?

Dwight Rigsby 00:40
Junior.

Vernon Fleming 00:41
Okay. And when did you learn and how did you learn about Louisa County High School being integrated?

Dwight Rigsby 00:48
I can't exactly remember. I think it was just, you know, general conversation that change was coming and when we showed up that year it was pretty obvious.

Vernon Fleming 01:03
Okay. Do you recall discussing it with your parents?

Dwight Rigsby 01:08
In a large degree, I think, you know, my parents said that there could be some new kids at school, and some people would accept them and some wouldn't, and just to do the right thing.

Vernon Fleming 01:22
Okay. What about your friends and peers? Did that discussion- you found out how soon before school started? Before the school year started, was it in the spring or summer?

Dwight Rigsby 01:36
Probably right before the school year. And my friends, when we got to school we knew there was a change and we pretty much all accepted it and took a challenge to make them, you know, make it a good transition.

Vernon Fleming 01:39
Okay. Okay, do you think everyone accepted it?

Dwight Rigsby 01:53
No.

Vernon Fleming 01:54
Okay. So just to fill in that, what did you observe from those who maybe didn't accept it so well?

Dwight Rigsby 02:02
Well, the friends that, the people that I hung out with we all looked at it as a right thing to do and a positive. And we, you know, we accepted it, but there was always a group of people that they were looking to maybe accomplish trouble even before the integration so there was just a new target for them.

Vernon Fleming 02:24
Okay. Now, did you ride the school bus?

Dwight Rigsby 02:30
I did.

Vernon Fleming 02:30
Okay. Where the any Blacks that rode your school bus that first year?

Dwight Rigsby 02:34
No.

Vernon Fleming 02:34
Okay. And-

Dwight Rigsby 02:37
Probably when I was a junior I wasn't riding the school bus. I'm sure I was either riding with someone or driving at that point.

Vernon Fleming 02:43
Okay. So when you entered school that fall in 1965 was there anything different from previous years as things worked, operated, assemblies, things that (unclear).

Dwight Rigsby 02:58
Not that I can remember.

Vernon Fleming 02:59
Okay. What about sports teams? Extracurricular activities, were there any Blacks that participated in sports with you?

Dwight Rigsby 03:11
Yeah and that's kind of the common denominator. Sports brings a lot of people together from all walks of life and diversity and everything else. So that was what probably got most of us initially together. Football practice was starting or basketball, baseball or any of the sports. So that was the uniting force, I guess.

Vernon Fleming 03:36
Were there any blacks that played football that year?

Dwight Rigsby 03:38
I think Joe Morris. has started to play and then had to leave, maybe his mother got sick or some family issue.

Vernon Fleming 03:46
Okay.

Dwight Rigsby 03:47
But then Joe played basketball and ran track. So he was pretty much around the locker room on a regular basis.

Vernon Fleming 03:55
Okay. Did you observe any issues with other schools that you played against? That may have had some issues?

Dwight Rigsby 04:04
No, nothing I can think of.

Vernon Fleming 04:07
Okay. I think when I talked to Joe and Steve Wright, they recalled Fluvanna, when they were playing basketball, had some issues with them, but I think maybe it stood out more for them than others.

Dwight Rigsby 04:21
I'm sure it did.

Vernon Fleming 04:25
What about teachers? Did you think the teachers accepted integration as well as you did?

Dwight Rigsby 04:33
I didn't notice anything unusual, it was just kind of school as usual.

Vernon Fleming 04:39
Okay. Going back to extracurricular activities, typically in high school- parties and Friday night dances, things of that sort. Did you see any integration of those social activities?

Dwight Rigsby 04:53
Well, sporting events, for sure and things like that, but I don't recall any of the local dances. They always had one at Firehole, either in Mineral or Louisa, but I don't want recall anything, you know, minority students come into those activities.

Vernon Fleming 05:09
Okay. Do you think from a community standpoint, do you think integration was welcomed outside of the school at that point?

Dwight Rigsby 05:19
I didn't see anything negative. I mean, I grew up in a rural part of the county and it was kind of a common place, we had neighbors that were minorities, and actually, you know, some of us would get together on Saturday and play ball, you know, as a mixed group. So, wasn't a big deal.

Vernon Fleming 05:47
Okay. Thinking back on that first year especially, anything that you think you would have done differently in the first year of integration than what you'd done?

Dwight Rigsby 06:05
Me personally, no, I think I accepted to change and tried to make it a positive experience. And most of the people that were my friends and we hung out together or played sports together took it the same way. And so yeah, me personally, I wouldn't have I wouldn't have done anything different. I think I think we handled it the right way.

Vernon Fleming 06:28
Good. Now, some kids, you may have known some probably, decided to transfer to out of Louisa County High School. Are you aware of any that did? And don't read any names, but-

Dwight Rigsby 06:42
Yeah, I did know some.

Vernon Fleming 06:44
Okay, do you think it was their decision? Or was it parents or combination of both?

Dwight Rigsby 06:48
I would say it was mostly their parents decision.

Vernon Fleming 06:52
Okay. Again, without calling any names, did you talk to anybody about that experience? How they felt about it?

Dwight Rigsby 07:02
I think most of them enjoyed it, but then some of them would come back to school dances and functions like that just because they wanted to stay in touch with their friends from Louisa. And I think most of them went because their parents made the decision. And honestly, you could read between the lines why they were doing it.

Vernon Fleming 07:26
Right. As far as having attended an integrated school for your last few years of high school, you think there was anything positive about it, or pretty much neutral? As far as where you able to interact with folks later in life?

Dwight Rigsby 07:47
I'm glad it did. I'm glad it did happen. I was part of that timeframe of history because it... Yeah, I think it was a good thing. And it carried on into later in life, how to deal with people and diversity and things like that. It kind of got me started early age where some people weren't exposed to it until later on.

Vernon Fleming 08:12
Okay, what did you do after high school?

Dwight Rigsby 08:15
Went to college. I went to North Carolina Wesleyan.

Vernon Fleming 08:16
Where? Okay.

Dwight Rigsby 08:20
Then I moved back to Richmond, worked for the community college system for a while, worked for Central (unclear) Bank for most of my career. So worked in the business world most of the time.

Vernon Fleming 08:32
Okay. And when did you move back to Louisa?

Dwight Rigsby 08:36
15 years ago.

Vernon Fleming 08:37
Oh, okay. Not that long ago then.

Dwight Rigsby 08:38
Yeah, my kids had gotten out of the house, and my parents were still living here and needed some assistance. So we moved up here to kind of take care of them, let them stay in their home until they passed, and we liked it and decided to stay.

Vernon Fleming 08:56
Well good. I think I've covered all the questions that I have, but anything that.. Thinking back to 1965, or slightly before slightly after, anything that you experienced, particularly related to integration that you'd like to share that may not have been covered.

Dwight Rigsby 09:14
Not, I mean- I'm proud of the fact that we're the first class and told the story to my kids, I have son and daughter and told them, we were part of history, and they kind of enjoyed hearing the story and I thought it was neat that we were in that first class and how we dealt with it, and to be honest, it kind of got me started in the right direction. And that's transferred over to the next generation of my kids, I mean to them, they're colorblind. I've got my great-grandkids and they're following in the same steps. I just think it was the right thing to do and I'm proud to be a part of it, and then carried it on to my family and passed that on. So it was a good time to come along.

Vernon Fleming 10:08
Okay, good. One question I've asked some others also now, back in 1965, do you recall observing anything in the county of Louisa, Mineral that were clearly Jim Crow symbols?

Dwight Rigsby 10:26
Like I said, I lived in the lower end of the county, so wasn't in the town of men or Louise unless it was just for school function or you know, some kind of activity. So, no.

Vernon Fleming 10:36
Okay, well good. Well, I want to thank you Dwight for coming in. And I really appreciate you sharing and..

Dwight Rigsby 10:44
I'm curious, is this going into a...

Vernon Fleming 10:48
It's going to be, again, one, there's a release form that you would have to sign, but basically, it's going to be in the Historical Society archives. And some folks had some reservations. So if they have reservations that can be not released, uploaded into the public system, unless you feel okay with it. But the intent is they upload it so researchers can look at it and capture for any research projects they're doing. But all of us are getting older and those who lived through it, and even some folks I've talked to (unclear) are bad already. So we just want to capture this since it was historic for Louisa County 1965. So just having first hand experiences like yours that we'll have for the record that 5, 10, 20, 100 years from now. So we wanted to kind of capture this and whether or not they want to write a book or do a documentary, they got firsthand commentary about what really what it was like.

Dwight Rigsby 11:45
Like I said, happy to been able to to be able to (overlapping) Yeah, it was a time in my life I'm glad I came along when I did and be part of it. How many Black kids came in that first class?

Vernon Fleming 12:06
It was 13.

Dwight Rigsby 12:08
Because Steve Montgomery and I were talking and I thought it was 11 and we weren't quite sure.

Vernon Fleming 12:13
Yeah, there was one senior, Veta Scott. There were four juniors in your class. There was one sophomore, three ninth graders and four eighth graders and I was one of the eighth graders.

Dwight Rigsby 12:25
My class would have been Joe, Robert, William Mason, and Margie Lucas.

Vernon Fleming 12:30
Lucas. Right.

Dwight Rigsby 12:30
Okay. That's what I was thinking.

Vernon Fleming 12:32
So yeah, when I was first talking with Margie, she thought her class, her, Joe, and Steve, and William were the only African Americans in the whole school. But there were so few of us, like my eighth grade I didn't share class with another Black except for Jim, a guy by the name of Walter Scott was in my class but a lot of the Blacks, you know, didn't... So few of us we didn't share another class with anyone else that was Black.

Dwight Rigsby 13:02
Did you grow up in this area?

Vernon Fleming 13:04
Yes. I grew up in Louisa, but it was the lower end, far eastern part of the county just near the Hanover, Goochland County line.

Dwight Rigsby 13:12
Okay.

Vernon Fleming 13:14
So I moved back 10 years ago, and built a house right near where my mom lives now.

Dwight Rigsby 13:22
Okay. Yeah. I was in a- went to Apple Grove.

Vernon Fleming 13:25
Okay, yeah. I would stop off at Apple Grove when we'd come in to school and that was one of the stopping points where the elementary kids got off and it'd be an exchange point.

Dwight Rigsby 13:35
Yeah, back then they had student bus drivers.

Vernon Fleming 13:38
I drove my senior year.

Dwight Rigsby 13:40
Did you really? How many people have you interviewed?

Vernon Fleming 13:45
Interviewed nine of the Black students all except two. Two are deceased- And one is in a nursing home.

Dwight Rigsby 13:50
Yeah, William. Okay.

Vernon Fleming 13:52
William and Beulah Perkins is deceased. And one guy, who was in my class, is in a nursing home so he's not able to talk. So and then as far as non-Black students, we just started today, but I talked to Steve Montgomery this morning and Steve Harris. Lynn Guilford-Wagner.

Dwight Rigsby 14:15
She was younger wasn't she?

Vernon Fleming 14:16
She was in my class. She was an eighth grader. And this afternoon... Pam, right, your cousin and someone else. One other person I'm drawing a blank.

Dwight Rigsby 14:21
Pam is coming in. Okay.

Vernon Fleming 14:24
And then next week- we're still working to fill out the agenda, but have Tommy Barlow who was an eighth grade also, but he transferred out. I'm not sure which way he went, but he didn't stay to graduate so.

Dwight Rigsby 14:42
Oh, Tommy Barlow (overlapping)

Vernon Fleming 14:44
Supervisor.

Dwight Rigsby 14:45
Yeah, he lives right down the highway from us.

Vernon Fleming 14:46
Okay, yeah. I was in school with his wife Mary-Ann, was Mary Anne Ware; Jim Artz, he was the coach. He's the only teacher we've been able to find so far.

Dwight Rigsby 14:47
Probably the only one alive.

Vernon Fleming 14:50
Yeah, I know.

Dwight Rigsby 14:51
Because I think (unclear) and Coach Smith, quite a few of them.

Vernon Fleming 15:08
Yeah, it's kind of unfortunate because, you know, really curious on to how the teachers were coached prior to coming on. I'm sure they receive some guidance on how to interact and deal with issues.

Dwight Rigsby 15:21
So how was your experience?

Vernon Fleming 15:24
It was different. Being in eighth grade, I didn't have any high school experience at all. So I was getting on the bus and fortunately I was one of the first to get on the bus. But you know, no one would sit beside me that first several years and getting to school and adjust to the size, because I'd gone from a small elementary school, Shelfar Elementary, and getting the high school experience which is hundreds of people in the hallway. Again, as I said, no other Blacks I shared a class with and basically no communication. So it was pretty much, and what a lot of other folks shared also, was kind of invisible, that I was kind of there but you know, no one talked to me. Teachers would, you know, kind of like sterile environment, if they had to call on me they would call on me, but no socialization, contact at all.

Dwight Rigsby 16:15
I guess in our class, you know, Joe was pretty outspoken.

Vernon Fleming 16:22
Yeah.

Dwight Rigsby 16:22
If you got to know Joe, you got to know Robert, you got to know William and Margie. So it was kind of a good group and once you got to know one you pretty much got to know everybody.

Vernon Fleming 16:34
Yeah, Joe was extremely confident. When I talked with him he just came in confident and his father was pretty much a- not his father, his uncle, John Thompson, was pretty well known in the community. So he came a position of "Hey, I'm here, I belong here." I think it was kind of unique given being pretty good at sports, a valuable basketball player and others but he was kind of unique from some of the other kids who had experienced that was probably a bit intimidated. And a lot of us, you know, were called the n-word, spitballs and all that stuff. But you know, so probably not everyone's experienced the same thing, but I will say the vast majority caught some sort of blatant racism.

Dwight Rigsby 17:30
Is he still taping?

Vernon Fleming 17:31
I don't know. Are you?