Last segregated D.A. Smith class celebrates 40-year reunion

By Jim Cook

Published: July 5, 2008

OZARK — Catherine Comer Hinton traveled home to see that she and her friends had come a long way since graduating high school together in 1968.

Back in ’68, Hinton, who is now a teacher in Jonesboro Ga., had no inkling of the opportunities that would be available to her and the other graduating seniors of the last segregated class of D.A. Smith High School in Dale County.

“It’s just been awesome how God has blessed us to be where we are in life now,” she said.

About 35 of the class of 1968 made it Saturday for the 40-year reunion. The graduating class of 1968 had 57 students. Since then more than 10 have died.

Theresa Locke, a reunion organizer was pleased by the 80 percent attendance rate by the surviving members.
“This is phenomenal,” she said.

The reunion has attracted the attention of a local college’s history preservation effort.

Linda York, a Wallace Community College history professor, is heading up a project chronicling the history of about 21 blacks-only schools that existed in Dale County during the segregation era. York said the reunion provided a valuable opportunity to do live interviews.

“This is going to be a focal point,” she said.

Willie Knight, a D.A. Smith graduate, said the social changes that occurred after segregation ended opened up many opportunities he and his fellow students wouldn’t have dreamed possible. However, he did say that his time at the school had been a positive experience, citing the close-knit nature of the community and shared values of the time.

“When we were going to school there was more discipline, things were stricter, there was more of an emphasis put on education,” he said.