A lot of kids who start at new schools likely show up with a few nerves on their first day. But James Lockhart’s emotions were so much more intense on day one back in August of 1974.
“I was scared,” Lockhart recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh, my goodness. I am in a white school.'”
Not only was he in a school with 1,500 white classmates, but Lockhart was the first Black student ever to attend Highland Park schools. His parents moved to the Park Cities from San Antonio to study theology at Southern Methodist University and he joined them right before his senior year of high school.
It was a landmark occasion that brought down the last standing color barrier in a Dallas County school district, a moment notable enough for a WFAA news crew to show up during his first week of class.
“When I first came, I felt kind of lonesome without the friends I had in San Antonio,” said a young James to the reporter in the 1974 story preserved in the SMU Jones Film Library. “Now that I’m here, I’m beginning to enjoy it very much.”
His new classmates also seemed to be enjoying his arrival as a few of them told WFAA they thought it was “neat” and they found James to be “a nice guy.”
“I was well accepted,” said Lockhart about his groundbreaking senior year. “The teachers, the coaches, they all received me well.”
He may not have known it at the time but his attendance at Highland Park broke through a barrier the district once actively tried to uphold. The 1974 WFAA story details how nearly two decades earlier, Highland Park schools would pay Dallas to take their Black students, a practice that would later be prohibited by state and federal law.
Though he got a warm welcome, Lockhart acknowledged he still walked the halls with plenty of apprehension. He remembers one day when a female classmate accidentally bumped into him causing them both to drop their books.
“I said, ‘Oh no, I am in trouble,'” he remembered. “I picked up our books and she said, ‘I am sorry’ and I thought to myself ‘Uh, no, I am sorry!'”
But he said his time at Highland Park was one of growth in which he learned from his white classmates and teachers while they also learned from him. He remembers getting a standing ovation when he crossed the stage at graduation.
Today, he owns his own media and broadcast production company based in San Antonio. Lockhart Rhema Gospel Express, LLC, produces a gospel music internet station that features Lockhart as a host.
As for present-day racial relations in the country and how it has changed from the time he was at Highland Park, Lockhart has seen progress but also thinks there is more progress to be made.
“The reason I say that in some ways we have not (made progress) is because many people are followers and I believe we were born to be leaders.”
Just as he led the way on that day in August of 1974.