In November 1969, the Scribbler was working as a guide at the old Jamestown (Virginia) Festival Park. So he was unaware when the board of the School District of Lancaster expelled student Scott Griffen because he struck back after a teacher began pushing him around.
Griffen had been targeted as a Black student troublemaker.
The Scribbler has learned about this incident by reading “100 Years: The Lancaster Branch of the NAACP.’’ The 135-page history of the civil rights organization by author Rosemary T. Krill appears in the current Journal of Lancaster County’s Historical Society.
The Scribbler is familiar with the role the NAACP played in other civil rights actions of the ’60s: efforts to improve housing for Black people, to integrate Lancaster’s swimming pools and to persuade Lancaster’s department stores to hire Black employees for something other than janitors and elevator operators.
The NAACP had been concerned about racism in the city’s schools for some time before the disturbance at McCaskey High School forced everyone in the community to take notice.
The incident began Nov. 12, 1969, when Griffen objected to his placement in the back row of students in a photograph taken for McCaskey’s yearbook. He later explained, “The way a picture is developed, a black person standing in the back row looks like a black blotch, and the only way you can tell who it is is by reading the name at the bottom.’’
Griffen and other students were discussing this situation on their way to the principal’s office. G. Allen Eckert, a world cultures teacher, allegedly swore at Griffen, grabbed him, pushed him toward lockers and tried to strike him. Griffen ducked and returned the punch.
This was Griffen’s description of events. Eckert declined to discuss what happened.
McCaskey immediately suspended Griffen.
The next day, Black students boycotted classes and asked that Griffen’s suspension be lifted. Many white students also marched in front of the school to support Griffen.
A delegation of students and adults met with Superintendent Don S. Glass to ask that the teacher, as well as the student, be disciplined. The Rev. Ernest Christian, NAACP Lancaster’s president, led the meeting.
He said, “We’re dealing with 1969 instead of 1929. Then you could manhandle students. They’d take it and wouldn’t say a word. These days, young people are more mature. If this student is to be suspended the teacher ought to be suspended, too.’’
The all-white school board held a series of hearings with only white participants before expelling Griffen. The board did not discipline Eckert.
Griffen did not falter. He began a four-year carpenter’s apprentice program for contractor Joseph S. LaMonaca. He remained active in the local NAACP and LaMonaca was elected to its executive committee in 1974.
Rosemary Krill, secretary of the local NAACP and a former LancasterHistory board member, wrote about Griffen in her carefully documented history as part of her role as chair of NAACP Lancaster’s centennial history committee.
Krill also wrote a capsule history of the organization for the September 2023 centennial ball.
A final note: Krill’s history describes other racial disturbances in the city and county. It also commends positive race-related developments. But Krill’s bottom line will ring true with those who are honest about Lancaster’s current racial situation:
“Lancaster City and County have been and remain a segregated community. This is, sadly, a tradition as long and deep as other more positive traits. ... We must see discrimination clearly, question it, and work to change it.’’
Jack Brubaker, retired from LNP | LancasterOnline staff, writes “The Scribbler” column every Sunday. He welcomes comments and contributions at scribblerlnp@gmail.com.
