By Oliver Beckwith, MHM Board Member
At the end of World War II there were Monrovians who had lived there since the city’s incorporation in 1887. These people had seen the horse and buggy replaced by the automobile and the airplane. Monrovians had seen economic booms and busts, a Great Depression, and two World Wars. More changes would be coming to the city in terms of civil rights, and Almera Romney was one of those people who changed Monrovia for the better.
Monrovia had been segregated almost since its creation. In 1896 the Supreme Court’s Plessy v. Ferguson decision allowed for “separate but equal” facilities for people of color. Houses and schools were separated but in practice the facilities were not equal. Latinos, Blacks, and Asians were only allowed to live in the South part of the city, below the Pacific Electric tracks on Olive Avenue. When the Municipal Plunge opened in 1925 children of color were only allowed in the pool on Mondays.
Huntington School was located above Huntington Drive on Canyon Boulevard, and Black students from the area were assigned to the school. Educational funding and support for Huntington School was lower than it was for the rest of Monrovia’s schools. Interestingly the secondary grades in Monrovia schools were integrated. But students from Huntington School were less prepared for the academic rigor of those schools and success was hard to achieve, so many students dropped out of school.
Monrovia had been a busy place during World War II, and when the war ended in 1945 many former soldiers and their families relocated to Southern California. More homes were built, more children were moving here, and this led to a shortage of teachers in the area.
In 1946 Almera Anderson Romney stepped into the Monrovia School District looking for a teaching position. The superintendent told her the only position available was at the segregated Huntington Elementary School, and she took the job. Her husband Clyde had some recent business reverses and was ill. She needed to earn some money to help make ends meet for her husband and three children, but she didn’t really know what would be in store for her.
Almera was related by marriage to the Romney family in Utah. Family members of note are George Romney, Governor of Michigan and a presidential candidate in 1968. George’s son Mitt Romney was Governor of Massachusetts, a presidential candidate in 2008 and 2012, and was a Senator from Utah. Almera came to Monrovia with a degree from Brigham Young University, and she had experience as both a teacher and principal in the town of Manti, Utah.
Before coming to Huntington School she hadn’t interacted with African American people, but before long she would encounter the realities faced by this segregated community. Almera’s early experiences as a teacher at Huntington School were hard. Students would not interact with her or would misbehave. However when she dressed up as an outlandish gold miner for Halloween, the students realized she was approachable, and progress began to be made.
One day two of her best students came in late, and were visibly shaken. When asked why they were late, they explained to Mrs. Romney that they had accidentally “crossed the line” (North of Olive Avenue) to sell Girl Scout cookies. A White woman angrily chased them away with a gun, and their mother complained to the police that morning. “What did they do about it?” Almera asked. The girls answered, “Nothing, they never do.”
Almera worked with parents in the community to create a better school environment, and in 1949 she became the Principal of Huntington School. She worked tirelessly to get more resources for her students and was able to find good teachers as well. She was in charge of a separate school and she was looking to make it more equal. Husband Clyde Romney passed away in 1951, leaving her a single working mother with three children to raise.
How did she create success for her students? In 1953 Romney wrote the following in a graduate paper:
"As a principal I must try to create an atmosphere of friendliness, where each individual feels secure and comfortable and important. There will be cooperation rather than competition. The children will begin in Kindergarten to share and to contribute to the welfare of the group. This sharing will give them a sense of belonging and add to their feeling of security. By finding a niche in their smaller world, and accepting responsibility, they will grow in discipline and learn to know that self discipline brings freedom... I like to think of a school environment so happy that no child will ever want to be a truant, of a curriculum so exciting that school is a high adventure."
Romney was creating a culture at Huntington School which would result in successful students. According to a colleague, “There was instilled a sense of ‘I can do it’ in a hostile white world.” Almera Romney was Principal of Huntington School from 1949 to 1963, and in those years she had many conflicts with the district over its lack of support for the school.
Almera Romney was a leader in the Monrovia community. In 1951, the same year her husband passed away, she was elected as president of the Coordinating Council. She worked with community leaders to create the Family Service Bureau in 1953, and in 1954 she was a charter member of the Monrovia League, a group of influential Monrovia women interested in the welfare of all its citizens. She also formed the Monrovia Human Relations Committee as part of the Coordinating Council. These groups had similar goals, working to improve the lives of Monrovians in need of assistance.
Change was slowly taking place in Monrovia. In 1949 the Monrovia NAACP, led by Isaac Epperson, successfully made the case for integrating the municipal plunge to the city council. The plunge was desegregated in 1950. In 1954 the Brown v. Board of Education decision by the Supreme Court made segregated schools illegal, but many schools across the country refused to integrate, and this led to the Civil Rights Movement.
For Monrovia change was in the air but it would come slowly. A new superintendent tried to pass a bond issue to help the schools but the voters wouldn’t approve it. In 1963 a new superintendent asked Romney to become principal of Mayflower School, which needed new leadership. She accepted but she followed the progress of her old school and advocated for it whenever possible. That summer featured the historic March on Washington, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a Dream” speech. President Kennedy would be assassinated that November. The Civil Rights Movement was in full swing.
In 1964 President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law, specifically forbidding segregated schools but the Monrovia school board failed to act on this. Johnson’s Economic Opportunity Act provided Federal funds to schools but the school board was suspicious. They turned down money to help potential dropouts by offering part time jobs, and they even turned down funds for Project Head Start! As a result there was less money for Monrovia in general and Huntington School suffered as a result. School board meetings were long and contentious.
In 1965 the Monrovia League of Women Voters published a booklet on Monrovia titled, "Who Lives Here?” This exposed the de facto segregation at Huntington School with precise data. There were fears that Monrovia could have a Watts type riot and indeed, soon there was violence among the students at the high school.
By 1967 the Monrovia Superintendent of Schools received a notice from the state that the district needed to take steps to eliminate segregation in its schools. The handwriting was on the wall for the district. In order to avoid court mandated busing that eventually occurred in Pasadena schools, Monrovia decided to close Huntington School. Perhaps they knew that sending white students to the school would be highly unpopular in the community. Huntington School would remain segregated until it was closed in 1970. The students who attended there were sent to other schools in the district, and the district finally achieved full integration.
Almera Romney retired at the same time Huntington School closed, ending an era. But her legacy of working to help those community members who needed the most help is admirable. Today you can find a dedicated Neighborhood Treasure Monument in front of her old school at the intersection of Canyon Boulevard and Walnut Avenue.
A number of Romney’s students became successful at Monrovia high school and beyond. Among these are Bob Bartlett, Monrovia’s first Black mayor, and Disney illustrator Ron Husband. If you would like to learn more about Almera Romney or the turbulent changes that occurred in Monrovia in that era you should read Richard Singer’s book, Renaissance Years: A History of Modern Monrovia, available at the Monrovia Historical Museum.
Sources:
Mary Ellen Romney MacArthur. De Facto Segregation in Monrovia, California: Almera A.
Romney and Huntington Elementary School. PhD dissertation, University of Oregon, 1993.
Singer, Richard. Renaissance Years: A History of Modern Monrovia. Monrovia, California, 2024.
Huntington School was located above Huntington Drive on Canyon Boulevard, and Black students from the area were assigned to the school. Educational funding and support for Huntington School was lower than it was for the rest of Monrovia’s schools. Interestingly the secondary grades in Monrovia schools were integrated. But students from Huntington School were less prepared for the academic rigor of those schools and success was hard to achieve, so many students dropped out of school.
Monrovia had been a busy place during World War II, and when the war ended in 1945 many former soldiers and their families relocated to Southern California. More homes were built, more children were moving here, and this led to a shortage of teachers in the area.
In 1946 Almera Anderson Romney stepped into the Monrovia School District looking for a teaching position. The superintendent told her the only position available was at the segregated Huntington Elementary School, and she took the job. Her husband Clyde had some recent business reverses and was ill. She needed to earn some money to help make ends meet for her husband and three children, but she didn’t really know what would be in store for her.
Almera was related by marriage to the Romney family in Utah. Family members of note are George Romney, Governor of Michigan and a presidential candidate in 1968. George’s son Mitt Romney was Governor of Massachusetts, a presidential candidate in 2008 and 2012, and was a Senator from Utah. Almera came to Monrovia with a degree from Brigham Young University, and she had experience as both a teacher and principal in the town of Manti, Utah.
Before coming to Huntington School she hadn’t interacted with African American people, but before long she would encounter the realities faced by this segregated community. Almera’s early experiences as a teacher at Huntington School were hard. Students would not interact with her or would misbehave. However when she dressed up as an outlandish gold miner for Halloween, the students realized she was approachable, and progress began to be made.
One day two of her best students came in late, and were visibly shaken. When asked why they were late, they explained to Mrs. Romney that they had accidentally “crossed the line” (North of Olive Avenue) to sell Girl Scout cookies. A White woman angrily chased them away with a gun, and their mother complained to the police that morning. “What did they do about it?” Almera asked. The girls answered, “Nothing, they never do.”
Almera worked with parents in the community to create a better school environment, and in 1949 she became the Principal of Huntington School. She worked tirelessly to get more resources for her students and was able to find good teachers as well. She was in charge of a separate school and she was looking to make it more equal. Husband Clyde Romney passed away in 1951, leaving her a single working mother with three children to raise.
How did she create success for her students? In 1953 Romney wrote the following in a graduate paper:
"As a principal I must try to create an atmosphere of friendliness, where each individual feels secure and comfortable and important. There will be cooperation rather than competition. The children will begin in Kindergarten to share and to contribute to the welfare of the group. This sharing will give them a sense of belonging and add to their feeling of security. By finding a niche in their smaller world, and accepting responsibility, they will grow in discipline and learn to know that self discipline brings freedom... I like to think of a school environment so happy that no child will ever want to be a truant, of a curriculum so exciting that school is a high adventure."
Romney was creating a culture at Huntington School which would result in successful students. According to a colleague, “There was instilled a sense of ‘I can do it’ in a hostile white world.” Almera Romney was Principal of Huntington School from 1949 to 1963, and in those years she had many conflicts with the district over its lack of support for the school.
Almera Romney was a leader in the Monrovia community. In 1951, the same year her husband passed away, she was elected as president of the Coordinating Council. She worked with community leaders to create the Family Service Bureau in 1953, and in 1954 she was a charter member of the Monrovia League, a group of influential Monrovia women interested in the welfare of all its citizens. She also formed the Monrovia Human Relations Committee as part of the Coordinating Council. These groups had similar goals, working to improve the lives of Monrovians in need of assistance.
Change was slowly taking place in Monrovia. In 1949 the Monrovia NAACP, led by Isaac Epperson, successfully made the case for integrating the municipal plunge to the city council. The plunge was desegregated in 1950. In 1954 the Brown v. Board of Education decision by the Supreme Court made segregated schools illegal, but many schools across the country refused to integrate, and this led to the Civil Rights Movement.
For Monrovia change was in the air but it would come slowly. A new superintendent tried to pass a bond issue to help the schools but the voters wouldn’t approve it. In 1963 a new superintendent asked Romney to become principal of Mayflower School, which needed new leadership. She accepted but she followed the progress of her old school and advocated for it whenever possible. That summer featured the historic March on Washington, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a Dream” speech. President Kennedy would be assassinated that November. The Civil Rights Movement was in full swing.
In 1964 President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law, specifically forbidding segregated schools but the Monrovia school board failed to act on this. Johnson’s Economic Opportunity Act provided Federal funds to schools but the school board was suspicious. They turned down money to help potential dropouts by offering part time jobs, and they even turned down funds for Project Head Start! As a result there was less money for Monrovia in general and Huntington School suffered as a result. School board meetings were long and contentious.
In 1965 the Monrovia League of Women Voters published a booklet on Monrovia titled, "Who Lives Here?” This exposed the de facto segregation at Huntington School with precise data. There were fears that Monrovia could have a Watts type riot and indeed, soon there was violence among the students at the high school.
By 1967 the Monrovia Superintendent of Schools received a notice from the state that the district needed to take steps to eliminate segregation in its schools. The handwriting was on the wall for the district. In order to avoid court mandated busing that eventually occurred in Pasadena schools, Monrovia decided to close Huntington School. Perhaps they knew that sending white students to the school would be highly unpopular in the community. Huntington School would remain segregated until it was closed in 1970. The students who attended there were sent to other schools in the district, and the district finally achieved full integration.
Almera Romney retired at the same time Huntington School closed, ending an era. But her legacy of working to help those community members who needed the most help is admirable. Today you can find a dedicated Neighborhood Treasure Monument in front of her old school at the intersection of Canyon Boulevard and Walnut Avenue.
A number of Romney’s students became successful at Monrovia high school and beyond. Among these are Bob Bartlett, Monrovia’s first Black mayor, and Disney illustrator Ron Husband. If you would like to learn more about Almera Romney or the turbulent changes that occurred in Monrovia in that era you should read Richard Singer’s book, Renaissance Years: A History of Modern Monrovia, available at the Monrovia Historical Museum.
Sources:
Mary Ellen Romney MacArthur. De Facto Segregation in Monrovia, California: Almera A.
Romney and Huntington Elementary School. PhD dissertation, University of Oregon, 1993.
Singer, Richard. Renaissance Years: A History of Modern Monrovia. Monrovia, California, 2024.
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