Sandra Gonzalez WGNO News

5:50 p.m. CST, February 1, 2012
LOWER NINTH WARD—

Leona Tate is one of three women who made history at the former McDonough 19 School on St. Claude Avenue in 1960. They were some of the first African American children to attend school after desegregation started in New Orleans.

"That first day I can remember entering a full class of students and they were already there by the time we got there, and there was a lot of activity going on and I can remember speaking to a student and it was like I was invisible, and it was like I wasn’t even there. Before you knew it, everybody was gone. It was just the three of us," Tate said.

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The girls became known as the McDonough 3, and were only six years old when they were escorted to school by U.S. Marshals. White children were pulled out of school by their parents, and there were angry crowds outside the campus.

Now 52 years later, Leona Tate, is back in the Lower Ninth Ward, trying to start a Civil Rights Museum where all this historic action happened. For starters, she is trying to get a pavillion built on the neutral ground across from the school.

In the outdoor exhibit would be three desks representing the girls, and a bench where their parents sat to register their children. The pavillion would take up a block and would have a wall displaying the history along with pictures.

"My vision is to see school buses with field trips from schools to visit this site to see what happened here in New Orleans in 1960. I’d like to see this pavilion built for the kids to come and really read and see if we can put pictures on it, so they can know what we went through to get through the school doors in this building in our community," Tate said.

But she would not like to stop with the pavillion. Tate would like to utilize the abandoned school building that was once the site of historic moment of desegregation history. She wants to use it as museum and a community center.

"There’s just something I can’t explain. It’s just something that has to be seen. I see a lot of community activities for people of all ages, I just see a lot of activity here, and that’s my vision here," Tate said.