Alonzo A. Crim; 1st Black to Head a Major Southern City’s Schools

Alonzo A. Crim, 71, the first black superintendent of schools of a major Southern city. Crim was superintendent of schools in Carmel, Calif., when he was named to the Atlanta post in 1973. Crim took charge of a system in disarray. Students were being shunted from school to school for racial reasons with the end result being a huge drop in test scores. In a commentary marking Crim’s passing, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted Friday that Crim’s role “was healer, educator, conciliator, civil rights pioneer and salvager of a system abandoned by white parents, their input and their tax base.” By the time he retired in 1988, student performance levels in basic skills were higher than the national average, automatic promotions had been done away with, and attendance was well over 90%, a dramatic improvement. “He gave us the confidence to know that we can make a difference in the life of a child,” said Terrell Slayton, Georgia’s assistant secretary of state. On Wednesday in Atlanta of injuries sustained in a traffic accident.