A new book, The Silent Integrators, has been published, and the author, Alvin Patrick Edwards, is launching his inaugural book tour in the states of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia.
The Silent Integrators provides a glimpse of the journey that Dr. Lonnie J. Edwards, Sr. and Hansell Gunn, Jr. took, making racial integration happen without national attention. It was not without challenges, but it happened peacefully – a great victory!
In 1969, these two young black men entered the University of Montevallo as its first African American student-athletes. It all happened in Montevallo, Alabama, a small, busy, predominately white college town. It happened in a state in which Governor George Wallace announced, in his 1963 inaugural address, “Segregation Now, Segregation Tomorrow, Segregation Forever!” For some, this speech is remembered as one of the most zealous rallying calls against racial equality in American history.
However, at the University of Montevallo, there were court-ordered guidelines and federal government assessments. Still, no one marching… no one standing indoors, blocking entrances … no city or community disturbances … no military or secret service escorts or police supervision … no student walkouts in protest ... and no one was killed.
This book is a peek into the lives of these pioneers, their fears, their feelings, their defeats, and their victories, along with stories involving some of the individuals with whom they engaged along the way. It chronicles them from their births in small towns in Mississippi to their maturing and leaving legacies, in multiple states, in their rights. Although sometimes daunting, their journey shows us that human relations transcend race relations.
Both Dr. Lonnie J. Edwards, Sr. and Hansell Gunn, Jr. were able to self-actualize in their education careers, transitioning from student-athletes to becoming teachers and achieving the rank of Superintendent of Schools. Dr. Edwards began his career with the DeKalb County School District in 1971 as a teacher at Hooper-Alexander Elementary School. This was a critical and very challenging period in the history of the District as it was under a federal court order to desegregate. Within the first year of his employment, Edwards was identified as someone who could assist with helping to effectively manage and improve race relations and minimize racially based conflicts within the schools and with parents in the community. He was the first black person promoted to work in the Human Resources (HR) Department. He served there for seventeen (17) years, ensuring that the District successfully met the federal guidelines in recruiting, employing, and retaining people of color while ensuring that all existing and new employees were treated fairly.
One of the highlights of his career was reuniting with a former student from Hooper-Alexander, the late Nancy Johnson, on the Sally Jessy Raphael Show. After twenty-five years, she responded to a call for viewers of the Sally Show who wanted to thank someone on national television for changing their lives. As a result of this reunion, he wrote a book entitled, A Teacher’s Touch: Reaching Beyond Boundaries.
After almost 34 years, Dr. Edwards retired from the DeKalb County School System. He subsequently worked with the Georgia Department of Education; served as a consultant on race relations and diversity with a New York school system; and was selected as the Superintendent of Schools in Jackson, MS. Currently, the CEO of Edwards & Associates, Inc., he is an educational consultant and sought-after speaker. Much of his work relates to social-emotional learning for students, teachers, and parents, as well as teacher recruitment programs for high school students. As a result of his community involvement, Dr. Edwards has been invited to speak for two consecutive years to the international Fellows participating in the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University on the topic of Civic Engagement as a Basis for Social Justice.
During Hansell Gunn, Jr.’s education career, he made many exceptional impacts on students, parents, and the communities he served. In Alabama, he coached Vestavia Junior High School to back-to-back middle school basketball championships and a baseball championship in his first two years at the school. Overcoming a reluctance to hire him as a high school head coach due to his young age, Gunn was appointed the Head Boys’ Basketball Coach at Glenn High School. His team, nicknamed the Green Machine, capped off a perfect 36-0 season and won the State Championship title in the Alabama State Basketball Tournament.
Gunn was employed as an administrator in several school districts in the metro Atlanta area, including DeKalb and Fulton. In 1989, he was selected to serve as Principal of Benjamin E. Banneker High School in Atlanta, GA. In just one year, Gunn implemented his plan to improve teacher morale, decrease fights, and put discipline issues on the decline. With the support of the school’s learning community, Banneker saw a steady rise in its student enrollment and student academic performance as it was one of 24 public schools named to the Georgia Schools of Excellence Program. This award recognizes high-achieving schools as well as those making the most significant gains. During his five years at Banneker, Hansell etched out a legacy as a change agent. The U. S. Department of Education awarded Banneker the Blue-Ribbon Award of Excellence, having gone from worst to first. After serving as the Superintendent of Schools in Okolona, Mississippi, Gunn and his wife, Wilda, established Gunn Christian Academy and operated it for seven years in Alabama.
The author of The Silent Integrators, Alvin Edwards, is a husband and father of two adult sons as well as a retired schoolteacher and administrator. He earned a master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Supervision from Georgia State University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cleveland State University. In his spare time, he is a freelance writer, blogger, avid swimmer, and nature lover.
The schedule for the kick-off of the inaugural book signing tour is as follows:
Mississippi Shaw Delta Fest Homecoming September 23, 2022
(Shaw) Festival
Mississippi Coahoma Community College September 23-24, 2022 (Clarksdale) Homecoming Weekend
Alabama University of Montevallo September 29-30
(Montevallo) Reception and Golf Tournament
Edwards and Gunn will attend the book signings with author Alvin Edwards, and all three will be available for interviews and discussions. For more information on how to purchase The Silent Integrators and/or a book signing, contact Cynthia Dorsey Edwards at storehouseofsolutions@yahoo.com or via phone at 770-634-6690.