POST January/February 2015

“They came in open-bed trucks like
cattle all the way from Sanford, Fla., to pick
beans. They picked a bushel of beans for 50
cents and signed for their purchases at the
commissary with an ‘x.’ So they sat with
me and learned to write their name,” Young
explains. “That’s when I learned to become a
teacher. I felt those families would want the
same thing for their children as I would want
for mine.”
Continuing her education, Young went on
to Cornell University to work on her master’s
degree. But it was love that led her to make a
permanent stop in Rochester, where she would
catch the train to Ithaca for college and back
to visit her friend Anne, who was attending
the University of Rochester. Young recalls
that she caught the train from the station
where Dinosaur Bar-B-Que now stands on
Broad Street.
“I came to Rochester in 1945 with Anne.
St. Simon Cyrene Episcopal Church gave a
reception for the two new girls in town. I eyed
a nice-looking gentleman at that reception,
James Taylor Young Sr.,” Young laughs.
Young had met her future husband. She
left Cornell and instead earned her master’s
and doctorate degrees from the University of
Rochester.
Married and highly educated, Young
became a substitute teacher at Rochester City
School No. 9. She learned the class had a
revolving door of substitute teachers because
the teacher had cancer, which the students did
not know. “I went in there and said, ‘My name
is Mrs. Young, and I am here to stay!” Young
says boldly. “And the next thing I did,” Young
describes in a quieter voice, “I explained that
their teacher was sick and suggested we write
letters to her.”
Young earned that position and started
what would be 40 years of service to the
Rochester City School District. When she
was hired in 1952, Young had become just
the fifth African-American teacher there. She
was later promoted to the position of reading
specialist at School No. 7, only the second
one in the entire district, to a class of all white
boys. Her success there led to her appointment
“Unless
children can
see what’s on
the other side
of the fence,
they’ll never
know what’s
there.”
as assistant vice principal at School No. 19,
where she stayed for four years, and, later,
principal at School No. 24, a school with an
all-white faculty and all-white student body.
And after two years as principal, she was
asked to take on an important project that
gained national attention for the Rochester
City School District. The district had $1 million
in funding from the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act to design a program to promote
school integration.
“I wrote that program,” Young says
proudly. “I selected some inner-city schools,
and I hand-selected the youngsters to go to
West Irondequoit. I did workshops with the
faculty. The board meetings were rough.
School integration didn’t go easily,” Young
says. “We integrated city schools prior to the
federal mandate. It wasn’t welcomed with
open arms. Put this in perspective. We’re back
in the ’60s now, and you have to understand
the tension around the whole country back
then. I remember a person I considered a
supporter of mine coming into my office
and saying, ‘Alice, what do you think you’re
doing?’ I said to him, ‘Unless children can see
what’s on the other side of the fence, they’ll
never know what’s there. I’m taking down the
fence.’”
Young says Robert Kennedy visited
Rochester to learn more about her innovative
plan. It was the country’s first school
desegregation program, which today is known
as the Urban-Suburban program, offering
city students the opportunity to attend
participating suburban schools. It marks its
50th anniversary this year.
In addition to serving the city school
district, Young became a co-founder of
Monroe Community College.
“I remember the day Dr. Sam came to
my house and said, ‘We’re thinking about
starting a community college.” That man was
Samuel Stabins, and he enlisted Young’s help
in establishing Monroe Community College.
Young was named a trustee in 1961. She
went on to serve as the chair of the board
of trustees from 1978 to 1998 and has been
honored as the longest-serving trustee at any
community college in New York State.
MCC continues Young’s legacy with the Alice
H. Young Teaching Internship for Ethnic
Minority Graduate students, which was
instituted in 1987. Its goal is to provide MCC
students with a more culturally diverse faculty
while also affording the interns a valuable
teaching experience.
“MCC is in my blood,” explains Young,
who has a personalized license plate—1MCC.
“MCC is the best example of trying to make a
change with the way we’re getting in schools
and working with counselors, bringing
students on campus.”
With the city school graduation rate
continuing to decline, Young feels there is
never enough being done to help children
achieve the best possible education.
“We need to work more with parents.
There are great parents, but there are
other parents that need support. They need
guidance,” Young explains. “We need to pour
more money and effort into preschool and
early-education programs. You have to start
early.
Young herself is still very much involved.
At 91, she is still an honorary chair of the
MCC board of trustees (and regularly
attends meetings) and lends her time to many
other civic organizations.
“You have to stay involved. I feel very
blessed.”
—Lori A. Gable
Issue 9 January / February 2015 | POST 23