Subject: Youthpage 3

Photographed at Lakeland School

At Weems home on Pierce Ave. Dianne Weems and Donald Weems were the teens of the household

School girls, from left to right, (first row) Pamela Sharps, Pearl Lee Campbell; (second row) Mary Ann Campbell, and Pamela Randall wave their Fairmont Heights Hornets pennant as they prepare to leave Lakeland to support their team during the school’s 1960 homecoming game. Lakeland High School was replaced by Fairmont Heights Junior-Senior High School in 1950. The new school served the African-American students from widely scattered areas of Prince George's County. As a result of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the school board abandoned its earlier, race-based school assignment plan and instituted a system based on residential boundaries. At the time, housing in Prince George’s County was segregated. African Americans resided in single-race communities, many out of custom and by choice, and others due to housing discrimination. The result of the new boundaries plan was a school system with mostly single-race schools. There was a policy, however, that allowed students to seek assignment to other schools. Few sought that option. In the 1960s, Lakeland students were assigned to the closer, predominantly-white Northwestern High School in Hyattsville and High Point High School in Beltsville.

In 1960, Dervey and Thelma Lomax sought to enroll their son Gregory in a nearby, predominantly white elementary school, but the school board denied his admission. After a second denial a year later, the Lomax family, with the assistance of the local NAACP, appealed to the state board of education. The local board settled by admitting Gregory as a second-grader to the predominantly white College Park Elementary School. The following year he was joined at school by his younger brother Elston and a few other young Lakelanders. Gregory Lomax is shown as an elementary school student.

1946-47 School year picture

Class from Paint Branch Elementary School 1977-78 school year. Their teacher is Mrs. Lyon

Lakelander Yearbook

As schoolgirl

Lakelander yearbook page

Many of the young people in the community used public transportation to travel to the District of Columbia to study piano under David Hines. For several years, the students presented a fundraising recital at Embry A.M.E. Church. This program on June 27, 1957, included, left to right, (first row) Reginald Keys, Rosetta Brooks, Cynthia Hines, Phyllis Smith, DeWana Gray, and Karl Alexander; (second row) Janet Randall, Jacqueline Randall, Barbara Brown, Diane Weems, and Frances Mason.

Lakeland Elementary School student during the 1945-46 school year

Children's Bicycle Race during dedication day of Lakeland Park

Brother of Elizabeth C. Adams

Lakelander yearbook

On the basketball court during the 1970-71 season at Parkdale High School. James Gray is seen center front with Douglas Few just behind him.

Lived in Murkirk daughter in law of Helen Brown and Franklin Brown

Embry AME Church

At Lakeland Elementry School for classes sponsored by Prince George's County Recreation Department

James Walter Edwards IV on his 12th birthday

Left Edna Marie Tyner Gross and right Shirley Delores Tyner students at Lakeland Elementary School from 1945-46 school year

Elwood Gross riding a tricycle watched over by his cousin Rudolph Gross

Lakeland's Boy Scout Pack 1025 outside the home of their leader Harold Pitts. The group was sponsored by First Baptist Church of College Park

Lakelander yearbook

Mary Ann Campbell Smith and Dennis Campbell

CP Dream Team basketball team pictured at Embry AME Church. The church sponsored this team made up of friends of the church and Lakeland community members. Coaches shown are Earl Hawkins far left, back far right Dwight Brooks and far right front Reginald Gaskins

Miss Norris's pre-kindergarten class of 1974-1975, at Paint Branch Elementary School

Heritage Weekend

Standing Willie Randall, Thomas Randall and Shirley Randall Anderson and in the sled are Thomas R. Randall, Pamela Randall Boardley and Janet Randall Gillens and Jacqueline Randall and standing just behind her is Michel Jackson

Lakeland schools supplemented academic activities with variety shows that helped children develop performance skills and confidence in public speaking. In 1953, students at Lakeland Elementary School performed a Tom Thumb wedding, inspired by the song “The Wedding of the Painted Doll,” from the 1929 film The Broadway Melody. The school’s presentation included Lakeland boys and girls, as well as those who attended the school from other communities along U.S. Route 1.

Embry A.M.E. Church’s Junior Choir is shown here circa 1965 with their pastor, Rev. Robert H. Baddy. The group served under the direction of Dessie Randall Thomas and was accompanied by Janet Randall on the piano. A member of the group recalls, “The recollection of those old hymns I learned as a child has helped me through many difficult times. Their lyrics have been a continual reminder of God’s love and promises.”

Parkdale High School Basketball

In 1957, fourteen-year-old Wardell Thomas was Lakeland’s own teenage singing sensation. He was featured in a February 1957 Washington Star article, which applauded his ability and his winning streak at local talent shows. Thomas impressed his audiences with renderings of songs such as “In the Still of the Night” and “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?” He began his musical career at the age of six when he walked on stage and performed during a show. Thomas also sang at Embry A.M.E. Church.

For most of a century, only African-American students attended school in Lakeland. In 1956, two years after the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools were unconstitutional, the Prince George’s County Board of Education enacted a plan to impede the integration of schools. The first white students did not attend Lakeland Elementary School until the late 1960s. They were few in number. The board of education resisted desegregation for decades, despite the struggle by Lakeland residents and others for integrated schools and public facilities. Nevertheless, desegregation progressed intermittently until court-ordered programs began in 1973. Pictured in this photograph taken during the 1966-67 school year is Lakeland Elementary School’s fourth and fifth grade class with Mr. Ford.

Officer Powers in photo collected for production of one in a series of sports cards to honor Lakelanders and participants in the Lakeland Stars basketball events. these games were held during heritage weekend for several years. They featured play by local youth and members of local police agencies

School picture of Lakeland student, Mary Day from 1946-47 school year