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Gifford Neighborhood Plan 2014 In the early 201h century, the Gifford School only went through the sixth grade and they could not attend school in Vero or Fellsmere. They also did not have the resources to send kids as far away as Ft. Pierce or Melbourne. John Broxton, born a slave baby in pre-Civil War south, settled in the Wabasso area and after sixth grade, sent his kids to Bethune Cookman School in Daytona to complete high school. His daughter went on to earn her Master's Degree. To help alleviate the transportation problem, Broxton saved up his money to buy a used car and began transporting black students to Ft. Pierce for high school. In 1931, the Indian River County School Board agreed to pay him $10 a month to take the students to Ft. Pierce. Then he purchased an old school bus and transported kids from Wabasso, Gifford, Oslo and St. Lucie to Ft. Pierce to attend school. In 1938, the Gifford School expanded to include high school. Textbooks were donated to the school when they were too outdated and worn out by the white students. The same was true for furniture and equipment. The school had no heating (no school had air conditioning then), and on cold days the students would huddle around a fired on the outdoor basketball court. In 1952, a new high school was built, but students and teachers still dealt with a shortage of equipment. Teachers would spend hours raising money in the black community for materials and supplies. That school is now the integrated Gifford Middle School. Joe Idlette, Jr. played a key role in our county's school integration. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Brown vs the Board of Education, declared separate but equal to be unconstitutional. According to Idlette, "In 1962 I wanted my kids to go to Vero Beach Elementary School and was told they had to attend a neighborhood school closest to home. I said you have white kids coming here from all over the county, but was still turned down. So I went to the NAACP for help. They sent a lawyer down from Jacksonville and it started a process that would take seven more years." During the 1960s' civil rights struggles, reports of Ku Klux Klan activity in Indian River County were documented. According to an FBI report, "...Agents also opened an intensive investigation after receiving reports that Klansmen were plotting to kill several individuals active in the integration of the Indian River County school system." That seems to coincide with comments by Joe Idlette, Jr.: "One day my wife and I were backing out of our driveway to go grocery shopping and a car pulled in behind me. A man came to my side of the car and told me he was from the FBI and needed to talk with us. He said they had an infiltrator inside the KKK and White Citizens Council and that my name had come up. He wanted to know if I had any identifying marks on my body in case something should happen to me. "After that I told the sheriff I would arm myself since my life was threatened. For a long time my wife and I slept in the front bedroom, with kids in the back bedroom. But then I decided if you live by the sword you die by the sword and put my weapons away." Idlette and many others are quick to point out that they had support in the white community, even if it was behind the scenes. The schools were integrated without any serious incidents in 1969 and the last vestige of legalized racism was eliminated in Indian River County. Joe Idlette, Jr. was elected to the school board in 1974 and served four consecutive terms. N N N Indian River County 107 Community Development 1