Carolyn knew plenty about cheerleading. She had been a cheerleader at her newly integrated high school in Sparkman, Arkansas, a small town about 20 minutes away from Arkadelphia. Therefore, she was not nervous when she and three other students, Betty Macon, Deborah Scott, and Dorothy Stewart (who would eventually become Henderson’s first black Homecoming queen) decided to go to the office of student organizations and ask for the forms that they needed to fill out in order to try out. Then, they did not know that they were embarking on a journey that would result in demonstrations and protests in order for them to be allowed to try out for the squad because, to their surprise, Carolyn and the other three women were denied. “We were not doing it thinking that we were getting ready to start some national movement,” said Carolyn. “We just simply said ‘Hey, we want to be cheerleaders.’ We absolutely did not have a clue that it was going to create the commotion that it did.” The administrator in charge of student organizations on campus told them that they could not try out because Henderson did not currently allow black cheerleaders. Carolyn could not believe that she and the
“...There is nothing that is going to keep a black girl from jumping just like a white girl.”
“ We were not doing it thinking that we were getting ready to start some national movement.” other women were being denied the opportunity to try out because of their race. “How can you tell me I can’t got out for cheer?” said Carolyn. “I go to school here.” But it was true. They were not going to be allowed to try out. However, this did not make them give up. Shortly after being denied the paperwork and being told that they could not try out, the four Henderson cheerleader hopefuls went to the Confederation of Black Students (CBS). The CBS was an organization that existed on campus during the 70s in the early days of integration. It helped to promote unity and to ensure that all Henderson students received equal rights. Whenever black students had a grievance, CBS would try to open a dialouge with campus administrators to settle problem. “We had a whole lot of issues because we couldn’t do anything,” said Carolyn. “We were just there. They simply had us on campus because it was the law to have black students.” For a period of time, the issue went unresolved, and the four young women continued to talk to different administrators. “Different people, different white administrators, told us, ‘No, we are not going to have any black cheerleaders’,” said Carolyn. “I mean, they really meant that they were not going to have any black cheerleaders.” They kept hearing the same message: “No, you cannot do it.” “You cannot go out for cheerleader. We don’t do that.” The students remained content to try peacefully, through talking, to convince the administrators that they should be able to try out. They did not consider any type of active
Cheerleader Caroyln Hunter, along with two of her squadmates, pep up the crowd at a Reddies football game in 1972. protesting until they talked to Ralph Carpenter, the head football coach. They hoped that he would understand their problem because, at the time, there were already black men playing for both the football and basketball teams. “We thought that we would find refuge with him,” said Carolyn. “When the administrators said that we couldn’t be cheerleaders, we thought, ‘Surely the coach knows better. The coach knows that there is no barrier. There is nothing that is going to keep a black girl from jumping just like a white girl.’ So, that’s the reason why we went to him. We went to him trying to get him to support us and to say that it’s okay for us to try out to be cheerleaders.” The four women met with Coach Carpenter in his office one afternoon. However, he told them that they would not be able to try out. “Black girls don’t know how to cheer,” said Carpenter. “They don’t have the athletic ability to be a cheerleader.” After that, Carolyn says that she did not hear another word that Carpenter said. The shock of his answer was too much for her to bear.
“It was so illogical, my brain almost exploded,” said Carolyn. “I just couldn’t believe that he said that.” It was not only the illogical conclusion and the racism that shocked her; it was also the sexism that seemed to rule his reasoning that truly surprised her. “I can see you being stupid and thinking that my brain is inferior,” said Carolyn. “But my muscles are definitely not. I do not have an inferior body. He’s coaching black male athletes. Their bodies weren’t inferior to the white male athletes, so why do you think that a black woman’s body would be inferior to a white woman’s body?” After the meeting with Carpenter, Carolyn and the other students realized that simply talking would not get them what they wanted. “It was then that we went to the streets,” said Carolyn. “I don’t know how we got organized, but we all came together. And we marched.” None of the students were prepared to march that spring day. It was as if that they had become so fed up with being told what they couldn’t
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