Phylissa Mitchell

What pissed Chip off was the fact that there were no Black women in the athletic teams, were like in the high 80s for Black athletes. And so he got together with the football players, and they did the “man, this ain’t right” thing. And then everybody walked out of class except me because the rumors didn’t get that far to me, and so they walked out. And Mr. Hurt went out and listened to their demands. And then Darlene and I were sitting in class, and she was a year ahead of me, so we weren’t in the same class. We were told to come to the office, and Mr. Hurt in inimitable fashion, because Mr. Hurt could chase a point for like three years before he finally made it. So we’re sitting there, and he’s going “blah, blah, blah” and we still don’t know. And then he says, “So I am adding you and Darlene to the squad,” and we just kind of went “What?” and that’s what happened. But it was the athletes and students’ walkout that I think really galvanized the administration to do something.