MIAMI – A mural was unveiled Saturday at a school in Miami-Dade County honoring Frances Johnson, one of the first Black parents to lead her children to an all-white school.
Johnson took the brave step with her children on Sept. 6, 1961, at Earlington Heights Elementary School, and on Saturday morning, her son honored her at that same school she took them to with a mural.
Family and friends gathered to remember and honor a moment in Black history in Miami for Johnson.
Johnson’s son, Pastor Lorenzo Johnson, put the mural together and said his mother walked him into Earlington Heights Elementary School in 1961 when it was an all-white school, and said it was a difficult but brave thing to do.
“We’re celebrating the fact that a Black lady back in the day walking her kids into an all-white school, and I’m one of the kids,” Lorenzo Johnson said.
The mural shows Johnson’s brothers and sisters, highlighting younger photos of them with his mother Frances shown on top.