2 pioneers credited

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RALEIGH -- Students of American history know of Rosa Parks, the civil rights icon who refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Ala., in 1955. Few have heard of Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old schoolgirl who refused to give up her seat on the same bus line nine months earlier.

Joseph H. Holt Jr. fears that he, too, may be one of history's forgotten witnesses -- Colvin to Raleigh's version of Rosa Parks.

His parents, Elwyna and Joseph H. Holt Sr., tried unsuccessfully to integrate Raleigh's schools for three years before someone else finally did. For nearly two decades, Holt has worked to ensure his parents' efforts aren't lost from Raleigh's civil rights history.

Elwyna and Joseph H. Holt Sr. tried unsuccessfully to integrate Raleigh's schools before someone else finally did. For nearly two decades, their son has worked to ensure his parents' efforts aren't lost from Raleigh's civil rights history.

Someone has been listening.

Last month, Elwyna and Joseph Holt Sr. were selected for the Raleigh Hall of Fame in recognition of their struggle.

"It was a huge personal sacrifice at the time," said Parker Call, a non-voting member of the selection committee. "Most people have no idea how much courage it took."

Holt was one of two people who nominated his parents. He was elated by the news, though not fully satisfied.

"It has lifted a big burden from my soul," said Holt, 62.

In August 1956, Elwyna Holt submitted a handwritten application to enroll her only child at Josephus Daniels Junior High School. Resistance was immediate. It started with threatening phone calls.

"They called all hours of the night," Joseph Holt Jr. said. "We began to get hate mail from groups like the White Citizens Council and the Patriots of Wake County."

A threat to dynamite the Holt home made front-page headlines. Joseph Holt Jr. was whisked to Jones County after someone threatened to abduct and kill him. Joseph Holt Sr. was fired from his job at a heavy equipment warehouse. Out of fear, friends shied away.

"People didn't stop by the house anymore," Joseph Holt Jr. said.

Applications denied

The application to Daniels was denied without review by the school board. The following year, the Holts applied to Needham B. Broughton High School. Denied again, they filed a federal lawsuit against the Raleigh City School Board that would have barred segregation in the city. The legal battle continued until 1959.

In 1960, 7-year-old William "Bill" Campbell, the future mayor of Atlanta, became the first black child to integrate Raleigh schools when his parents enrolled him at Murphey Elementary.

The Holts have not gone unrecognized, largely because of their son's efforts.

An exhibit chronicling their quest has been on display at the Raleigh City Museum since 2000. Joseph Holt Sr.'s name appears among 26 area civil rights leaders listed on a granite monument at the Martin Luther King Memorial Garden near downtown.

Credit for Raleigh's role in the civil rights movement often begins with widely circulated stories about meetings at the home of Bill Campbell's parents, June Elizabeth Kay Campbell and Ralph Campbell Sr., who was elected president of the local NAACP in 1960.

According to the story, Campbell and other local black leaders -- "the "Oval Table Gang" -- regularly gathered around the Campbells' kitchen table and mapped the city's civil rights strategy.

Holt thinks the focus on the "Oval Table Gang" overshadows the contributions of others, including his parents.

Ralph Campbell Jr., Bill Campbell's older brother and a former North Carolina state auditor, said his family was aware of the Holts' efforts to integrate the schools, but he offered no other comment.

"I wish the Holts well with their being selected to the Hall of Fame," he said.

Elizabeth Cofield, a friend of the Holts and the first African-American and first woman elected to the Wake County Board of Commissioners, urged Joe Holt Jr. in 1986 to "tell his momma and daddy's story."