GREENSBORO, N.C. — On this day in 1957, Josephine Boyd Bradley became the first black student at Grimsley High in Greensboro.
It was 67 years ago that Bradley walked into the then-named Greensboro Senior High for the first time — the same week the Arkansas National Guard blocked nine black students from entering a Little Rock high school.
Bradley told CBS News back in 2006 that there were protesters lined up on both sides of her as she walked into school, hurling racial slurs and other profanities at her.
"She endured considerable ridicule as the only African-American there," Bradley's daughter, Paulette Bradley, told WFMY News 2 in 2020, "The incredible courage she must’ve had at 18 years old to take a giant step for not only her city but for the state of North Carolina."
In 2017, the City of Greensboro honored Bradley by renaming the street that Grimsley sits on — Aycock Street — to Josephine Boyd Street. The street was originally named for Charles Aycock, a former North Carolina Governor and noted supporter of white supremacy.
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