Dorothy Counts

High School Segregation

Photographer: Douglas Martin

Year: 1957 World Press Winner

Dorothy Counts (born 1942) was one of the first black students admitted to the Harry Harding High School, in Charlotte, North Carolina. After four days of harassment that threatened her safety, her parents forced her to withdraw from the school.

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A Walk of Faith

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History

In 1956, forty black students applied for transfers at a white school.^[1] This was after the passing of the Pearsall Plan in North Carolina. At 15 years of age, on 4 September 1957, Dorothy Counts was one of the four black students enrolled at various all-white schools in the district; She was at Harry Harding High School, Charlotte, North Carolina.^[2]

Three students were enrolled at other schools, including Central High School. The harassment started when the wife of John Z. Warlick, the leader of the