1961 - Reginald Hawkins leads protest

Summer 1961 - Charlotte minister and dentist Reginald Hawkins leads protest.

• Dr. Hawkins claims that the school board is closing existing white schools and building new ones in more distant white neighborhoods to avoid enrolling African Americans.
• This is the first of several protests Dr. Hawkins will lead. His confrontation techniques alienate whites but ultimately help promote faster desegregation in Charlotte.
• Dr. Reginald Hawkins (seated) with NAACP leader Kelly Alexander (standing) at the Board of Education. Alexander later criticizes Hawkins for "steering his own course."