M. Boyd Jones clenched his cane as he tried to remember why he’s become one of the most famous black teachers in Virginia.
Dark eyes gazing steadily from behind his glasses, the 97-year-old spoke as though he were addressing his class.
“I was black. I am black. I knew what it meant to be in that category,” said Jones, sitting in his living room Friday in Virginia Beach. “I fought long and hard, in varying circumstances, to make it better than it was.”
Jones was principal of the high school where, in 1951, students triggered the downfall of racial segregation. On Monday evening, he was honored with an endowed scholarship in his name.
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