Doris Brown Butler

January 16, 1930

“You will go to college, finish, and succeed,” his mother insisted. Earning a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, a Master’s Degree in Education, a Master’s Degree in Writing, obtaining his real estate license, and writing a book, Alfred Dansbury took her directive to heart. Most impressively, Mr. Dansbury earned his third Master’s Degree in his sixties.

Mr. Dansbury holds fond memories of his time in Haddonfield. Alternating between weekend visits to paternal grandparents in Haddonfield on Douglass Avenue and maternal grandparents in Cherry Hill on Kresson Road, the Dansbury children considered “Haddonfield to be a paradise.” He recalls that he “played back there with my friends, running through the woods, catching snakes, turtles, and frogs.” Living in Camden, he considered the retreat to the suburbs as an escape from “air pollution, noise, police sirens, crime.”

Attending church was a family affair for the Dansburys. He remembers getting “new outfits” and “dressing up.” His maternal uncle was a pastor at Mt. Olivet Church, and his wife’s grandfather served as pastor there in the 1930s.

Mr. Dansbury married his wife in 1976, and the couple have two children. Together for 47 years, Mr. Dansbury pro-

Being accepted into Rutgers—The State University in the 1960s amidst “anti-war, social justice, and Civil Rights Movements was an accomplishment of which he is most proud. He recalls that the university provided buses for students to protest the Vietnam War. Mr. Dansbury marvels, “It was awesome; it was eerie to see that many people—all marching down those streets.” During this period in time, he also became interested in the inequities surrounding war and poverty. He became editor of The Camden Community Newspaper, where he often wrote articles about racial injustices and poverty. Through his study of Black history courses at Rutgers, he developed a passion and appreciation for famous African-American writers. The works of Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ralph Ellison, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Richard Wright resonated the most with him. However, Wright’s Native Son was his favorite read.

The Dansburys have a legacy of breaking color barriers. His maternal great grandmother was white and married to a Black man, his paternal grandmother was the teacher of Haddonfield’s segregated elementary and middle schools, his maternal aunt saved her money from working as a maid for a Haddonfield family to, eventually, buy an eight-bedroom property on Kresson Road so her relatives could migrate from South Carolina to New Jersey. Years later, she built a new house for other relatives on the adjacent lot.

Mr. Dansbury recalls his greatest fear as a child was

“It’s better now. The change has already come,” lifelong Haddonfield resident, Doris Butler, explains as she reflects on her experiences in the community. Her devotion to this town is clear, her strong sense of community and belongingness evident in her recollections. However, Mrs. Butler shared stories of how race often divided the town’s population. Although Haddonfield is often celebrated as an idyllic, picturesque town with tree-lined streets and friendly residents, Mrs. Butler recalls a lesser known history of Haddonfield, one that is not often heard, but important to remember.

As most schools in the United States, Mrs. Butler’s elementary and middle schools were racially segregated. Surrounded by other African-American children, she felt secure and confident. While many can identify with the fear and anxiety related to transitioning from middle to high school,

Mrs. Butler had an extra challenge; she attended school with white students for the first time. She recalls that, “It was kinda hard because that was the first time we had been mixed with the white school, and a lot of the time, we were called names.” Since desegregation was in its infancy, many students and teaching staff struggled to embrace it. “I wouldn’t say [the teachers] were friendly but they were okay. They were not mean if you know what I mean.”

Although it was difficult at times, she truly enjoyed high school. She played field hockey for a year but promptly quit after getting hit in the face with a ball. Even though Mrs. Butler did not play on any other sports teams later in her high school career, she still interacted with her peers. She said, “I was just a friendly person, and I just made friends easy and I didn’t have to be in a club or anything.” She also developed friendships with Black students who were bussed from the suburban communities to attend high school. Mrs. Butler surmised, “That's why there were more African Americans in the classroom than there are now.” Some histories are difficult to hear or even accept but are necessary to tell in order to accurately represent a dark time. For Mrs. Butler, one of her most vivid memories from her adolescence was a firsthand experience with racism. She explained, “A lot of the stores on Kings High- please see BUTLER, page 6