At 15 years old, wearing a blue plaid dress her grandmother made, Dorothy Counts courageously walked to her first day of school in 1957 at Harding High School in North Carolina.

It was courageous because she was surrounded by a crowd jeering and spitting at her for being a Black girl attending an all-white school.

Now 83, Counts-Scoggins spoke about that day as the special guest at Monday’s DuPage County Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Breakfast.

Organizers said roughly 1,500 people attended the event in a ballroom at the Drury Lane conference center in Oakbrook Terrace.

Counts-Scoggins was one of four students chosen by civil rights leaders to push for the desegregation of schools in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in 1954 that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional, “nothing had been done in Charlotte,” she said.

So, on Sept. 4, 1957, she walked to the school.

A newspaper photo of her looking determined made her famous worldwide.

Counts-Scoggins spent just four days at the school before her parents, fearing for her safety, sent her to attend school in Pennsylvania.

But “these four days at Harding High School changed my life,” she said.

She attributed her resolve to the Christian faith in which she was raised.

“Had I not had the faith that I had, I could not have endured the harassment that I did the four days that I was there,” Counts-Scoggins said.

Moderator Renee Brent, co-chairman of the DuPage County MLK Executive Committee, asked how her parents could have sent her, knowing what she would face.

“One, somebody had to do it. Two, it was me,” Counts-Scoggins said. “I knew I was doing the right thing.”

Counts-Scoggins also spoke about forgiveness.

She recalled that when a local television station reported on a documentary about the 50th anniversary of the event, a viewer asked to be put in contact with her.

It turns out that during a Bible class, a teacher asked people who they need to forgive them. One man in the class immediately thought of his behavior as a child that day at Harding.

He recalled wanting to behave differently that September day, but he was afraid that he would be hurt by the others.

“That was the first person who had contacted me,” Counts-Scoggins said. She told him, “Woody, I forgave you 50 years ago.”

The two went on to become friends and spoke to groups.

“It is important to ensure that what happened to me does not happen (again),” Counts-Scoggins said.

Other events held Monday in honor of civil rights leader King were held throughout the suburbs Monday.

The city of Aurora planned an evening ceremony. Geneva High School hosted the MLK Day of Hoops boys basketball tournament, and the Geneva Public Library hosted a day of service. Prince of Peace Methodist Church in Arlington Heights hosted the play “Strollin’ Down MLK.” First United Methodist Church in Arlington Heights had a day of service, including making Linus Blankets, blessing bags, health kits, and dog biscuits for The Buddy Foundation.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20260119/news/somebody-had-to-do-it-civil-rights-pioneer-speaks-about-desegregating-school/