How Erie's Ms. Dixon changed history 56 years ago

Trivia twofer: Pennsylvania has how many counties? And which one of those counties formed last?

Armendia Dixon moved carefully through town on her way to integrate a whites-only elementary school in Laurel, Mississippi, as its first Black staffer.

It was 1966, more than 10 years after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregation in education, and states like Mississippi were still bastions of resistance. To this day, Dixon is only mostly sure she wasn’t followed that morning, saying, “If I was, I didn’t know it.”

When Dixon arrived at Stainton Elementary, she was greeted by the principal, whose first and last words to her were a warning.

“We don’t want you here,” Dixon recalled her new boss saying. “We don’t agree with this move and you will not be invited to any staff meetings or staff affairs. When you come in you can go right to your room, do your work, and leave when you get done.” 

The principal never spoke to her again, and within a year, Dixon was gone. 

She left for a new job at a new school more than 1,000 miles away in Erie, Pennsylvania, where a late-stage Great Migration pipeline from Laurel— the same detailed by the Erie Times-News in February — would inextricably link the two cities.

By the turn of the 21st century, 10% of Erie's population was Black and nearly half its Black residents had family ties to Laurel, the paper adds.

Dixon, now in her 80s and living in nearby Meadville, is still an educator and serves as director of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Mentoring Program at Meadville Area Middle School. 

With the 68th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling weeks away, we talked to Dixon about her experience desegregating Stainton, the “beautiful” moments in a hellish year, reflections on her career, and what she found in the North. 

Our conversation has been edited for clarity and length. 

PA Local: How were you chosen to come to Stainton? 

Dixon: The school’s superintendent received a telegram [from authorities] saying by morning the large city schools must be integrated. I was already teaching at an all-Black school in town.  

So I got a call in the middle of the night. It was something else in my house that night, honestly. We didn’t go back to sleep. We talked about what had happened to other people who had done this, including those children in New Orleans.

I had to think about it. But my parents, who were deep into civil rights, reminded me that they and so many others had been fighting for a long time for that day to come. 

PA Local: So you took the job as the school’s part-time librarian. How were you treated?

Dixon: The principal said that no students were to use the library while I was there. And it wasn’t much of a library to begin with, you know. I really needed to establish one.

But the most beautiful thing about being there, and perhaps the only beautiful thing, was that each day when the students lined up for their classrooms after recess, when they passed by the library and their teacher couldn’t see them, they would wave at me and smile. I always looked forward to that. 

PA Local: Would all or most of those children have been white?

Dixon: There was one Black student whose parents allowed him to come in as the first Black kid at that school. I’ve tried but to this day I can’t remember his name.

PA Local: You told the Erie Times-News that you took the job in Erie because your father was ill and you needed to earn more money. What were your impressions of the city?

Dixon: Things weren’t too different [from the South] at the time. It’s just that they tended to be more subtle. Blacks also had hard times getting homes. There was a riot my first week there in 1967 — it wasn’t at East High School where I taught, but my goodness.

I also formed a lot of friendships that were lasting. The staff at East High School made such a difference in my life. They looked after me. One of my friends helped me get a house because I couldn’t get a house. And that allowed me to bring my parents to Erie. 

PA Local: There are still very few teachers of color there or statewide. Why do you think that is?

Dixon: I’ve seen a lot of improvements in Erie public schools. ... But we have to keep working to tear down the walls [when it comes to opportunities for teachers of color everywhere]. It seems like a never-ending battle. 

PA Local: Do you have any plans to retire? 

Dixon: No, I’m just going to take my orders from the good Lord. When he tells me, I’ll retire. 

PA Local: Did you ever go back to Stainton Elementary? 

Dixon: Oh yes. And when I got there I was greeted by the principal again. Only this time it was an African American woman.

—Colin Deppen, Spotlight PA

» One thing to know: Monday is your last chance to register to vote in the May 17 primary. Once registered, you can request a mail ballot here. Have more voting questions? See Spotlight PA's complete primary guide.

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