In 1969, Lincoln Memorial High School, the only high school for black children in Manatee County, Florida, was closed due to the official ending of segregation in public places.Fourteen years after Brown vs. The Topeka Board of Education had been decided, integration finally was implemented in the Manatee County school system.Instead of going to high school in their neighborhoods, black children were required to attend one of the three white high schools in the county.This was a dramatic time in the history of our country.Through The Tunnel is a story of how ordinary people were the ones who had to figure out how to live with that change.Two men who were squarely in the middle of that history were Coach Eddie Shannon and Henry Lawrence.They talk about that first year of integration and how it went.They also remember the school that’s gone, Lincoln High, with a feeling of ardent love and reverence, which has endured for over forty years since the day its doors were forever closed.
Manatee Educational Television
2501 63rd Ave E.
Bradenton FL 34203
(941) 751-6550 ext 43192
Hours of Operation:
Monday-Friday: 9:00am - 5pm
Cable Channels
Manatee County
Spectrum: Channel 645
Comcast: Channel 19
Manatee and Sarasota County
Frontier: Channel 31