Girard+College+and+the+Freedom+Fighters

by Joharah, Lashé,Moussa, Kaiya,LeAnn, & Ben Grade 4

[[image:girard.jpg width="350" height="279" align="left" caption="Cecil B. Moore at the Girard College protests." link="@http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdorn/2819001834/in/photostream/"]]
A man named Steven Girard gave money in his will to start a school named Girard College. The will said that the school was only for white orphan boys. Girard College is located in North Philadelphia, which is a Black neighborhood. A group of people thought it was unfair that Girard College was segregated. They wanted to do something about it.

In 1968 Cecil B. Moore organized marches around Girard College. Cecil B. Moore was a Black attorney who cared about equal rights. The people who marched with him were the Freedom Fighters. They were also called “Cecil’s People”. Most of them were teenagers. They marched around the wall at Girard College for seven months and seventeen days. Their moral was: “Don’t let the wall conquer you, conquer the wall”.

The Freedom Fighters were harmed physically and mentally for marching for a change. They were beaten by the police, and injured. The police tried to force them to stop marching, but they kept protesting. They didn’t give up. One night when the Freedom Fighters decided to camp outside of Girard College, the police used their motorcycles to give off exhaust and poison the Freedom Fighters. A lot of them got sick and were taken to the hospital. The Freedom Fighters were also put in jail, just for marching. People had to bail them out. These are some examples of the terrible things that happened to the Freedom Fighters for marching for a change.

While the Freedom Fighters were marching, Cecil B. Moore took the problem of segregation at Girard College to the Supreme Court. He was trying to break Stephen Girard’s will so segregation at Girard College would end. “Cecil’s People” won the Supreme Court case. From then on there was desegregation at the school. Now everybody of any race or gender can go to Girard College. That’s the story of how Cecil B. Moore and the Freedom Fighters ended segregation at Girard College.

Image sources: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdorn/2819001834/in/photostream/