Athens Activists Reunited, Reflect.

Segregation kept blacks and whites apart.

Desegregation drove Doc Eldridge and Michael Thurmond together.

Following a screening of the Peabody award-winning film “The Search for Quality Education: Busing,” the pair shared their story:

Both Eldridge and Thurmond had been student council presidents until the dawn of desegregation re-drew the map and brought whites and blacks together.

Thurmond, in particular, was unhappy about the move. At a new school, he’d be just another new student, instead of “head of the class,” which he was guaranteed at Burney-Harris High School.

The pair weren’t thrown together by their differences, however, but their similarities — both loved football; both shared the title of “head of the class.”

In time, the pair became good friends — and that friendship has helped make their story emblematic not just of social turmoil, but positive social change.

Because although Athens-Clarke County had a contentious history with desegregating its schools, when officials did decide to institute a busing plan, it resulted in at least one success.

Some parents refused to stay or change, and withdrew their children to nearby Oconee.

But not Eldridge or Thurmond.

Now the former mayor of Athens and former state Labor Commissioner, respectively, Eldridge and Thurmond have gone on to influence far larger stages than that of the Classic City, but their story remains vital.

“I think it symbolizes how far we’ve come,” said Dr. Cully Clark, Dean of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, “and how far we have left to go.”

“We originally thought we would try and find some people that were featured in the documentary, but that proved to be a little more of a challenge,” said Diane H. Murray, Director of Public Service and Alumni Outreach at Grady, which is coordinating the event in celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the desegregation of the university.

“We thought it was a natural fit,” Murray said, referring to the film’s place both in the list of commemorative events and in the university’s extensive archive of Peabody-winning work, overseen by professor and awards director Horace Newcomb.

So Grady reached out to Eldridge and Thurmond.

“They’re both very interesting on their own,” Murray said, “and the two of them together talking about their experiences, we [thought], [would] be very interesting.”

The answer was immediate.

“It was an easy ask,” Murray said.

They were happy to appear and connect with an audience — an important part of the screening and discussion.

“We’ve been really pleased with how the audience has engaged,” Murray said.

Some of the positive reaction may be due, in part, to the documentary’s regional feel: one segment features Athens specifically, with comments from William Tate and Charles McDaniel, among others.

Of course, that was always the hope.

“We chose this documentary, in part, because it features Athens,” Murray said.

However there is more than one part to the issue and side to the struggle.

Although “Busing” was made in 1972, almost 40 years ago, its problems remain a very real part of the landscape of today, Murray said.

“What we’re hoping I people will see how far we’ve come,” she said, “and that we still have a ways to go.”