Former marine tells story of overcoming racial barriers

The story of a North Hills man starts with the ugly reality of the Jim Crow South, when he was serving his country during World War II.

Kenneth E. Whitlock, 81, starts his autobiography in 1944 by remembering the tense situation when he led the black members of the 51st Defense Battalion through the whites-only entrance in a Georgia train station.

The troops were expected to go around back and enter through the back, but Whitlock believed that his men, who were serving America's military, deserved to use the front entrance.

And for many African-Americans, the mere act of crossing into a whites-only section was a momentous act of defiance.

It was these memories of serving in the U.S. Marine Corps while living in segregated America that served as a catalyst for Whitlock to write his autobiography, 'Breaking Barriers: The Ken Whitlock Story.'

Whitlock and his wife, Melusena, started researching the book in 1986, but it was not published until February 2001. The book was written with Kelly Burgess.

'It was a huge project,' Melusena Whitlock said. 'We thought we would never finish it.'

The book is a detailed look into Kenneth Whitlock's life growing up in Sewickley, serving in the Marines, working as a principal in Virginia schools during segregation and integration and being a community volunteer in the North Hills.

After Whitlock published his book, Quaker Valley School District Superintendent R. Gerard Longo wrote a letter to all Allegheny County superintendents informing them that 'Breaking Barriers' is a 'testimony to both the greatness and the shortcomings of our nation' and that each school should have the book in its library.

Also, Kenneth and Melusena Whitlock were invited to a Pittsburgh City Council meeting, where District 6 Councilman Sala Udin awarded Kenneth Whitlock a certificate recognizing his book and its significance in both Allegheny County and national history.

Sitting in his McCandless living room, Whitlock proudly reminisced about his days in the Marines. He said he was the first African-American from Allegheny County to serve in the Marines.

He laughed as he remembered how proud he was when he first wore his 'dress blues' to impress his sister, who was living in Washington, D.C.

'But there were a lot of people who didn't want blacks fighting,' Kenneth Whitlock said. 'Blacks were primarily stevedores, mess men, waiting on the officers. It was like back in the slave days. But we had to go through the same training as everyone else.'

Whitlock's battalion became the first integrated fighting unit in the Marines. His unit was shipped to the Pacific and was kept on security detail on islands that already were occupied by Allied forces.

'That experience (of serving in the Marines) was about breaking barriers,' he said.

Whitlock was born in 1920 in Sewickley, the fifth of eight children. His father, Frank Whitlock, a star football player at Quaker Valley High School, had moved to Sewickley from Virginia with his parents, who once were slaves of Thomas Jefferson.

Whitlock also attended Quaker Valley High School and later Virginia State College for Negroes, where he was an accomplished athlete on the football team.

After Whitlock returned from the military, he finished college and earned degrees in education. In 1953, he was appointed principal of Mary Scott Elementary School in Virginia.

The next year, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned school segregation in the landmark case 'Brown v. The Board of Education.'

Whitlock said the state of Virginia was the last southern state to integrate its public schools, but the integration of students went surprisingly smoothly.

'We never had a lot of problems. It helped that my school district in Fairfax County was one of the richest school districts in the country,' Whitlock said.

Whitlock was a principal at five schools until he retired in 1980. Talking about his different schools, he excitedly listed the many science fairs and school projects he took part in. During the late 1960s, he traveled to Sierra Leone as part of a 'teaching corps' to work during a summer with teachers in that country.

'I could never stand to stay in my office. I always wanted to be with my students,' Whitlock said.

Even after retirement, Whitlock remains an active volunteer in the community. He has served organizations such as the Northland Public Library in McCandless, the Quaker Valley School District, the Sewickley Public Library, Sewickley Valley Hospital, Sweetwater Center for the Performing Arts, the Urban League of Pittsburgh and St. Matthew's AME Zion Church, where his family has attended church for almost a century.

'We had him in to speak with minority high school students to tell them about teaching,' said Joseph Clapper, assistant superintendent of Quaker Valley School District. 'He told them when they are considering a vocation to give serious consideration to teaching. He motivated a couple of them to pursue teaching.

'Ken is the kind of guy when we needed anything, we can call on him. You can clearly see that education is part of his life, not just a profession, but a lifelong project. He is the consummate educator and continues to work beyond his working years. He hasn't stopped; I don't suppose he ever will.'

Kenneth Whitlock also visits local schools and libraries dressed as the historical figure Benjamin Banneker, a black engineer and architect who was instrumental in designing the layout of Washington, D.C. Banneker is a distant cousin of the Whitlock family.

Shirley Wormsely, a third-grade teacher at Osborne Elementary School in the Quaker Valley School District, said Whitlock has visited her classroom dressed as Banneker and talked to the children about life for African-Americans during colonial times.

'The children enjoy the presentation. He is very thoughtful with the students,' Wormsely said.

'But he has always been very influential in the Sewickley area community both as a mentor and a model. I've thought of him as a model to look up to and patterning my own life after. He is always involved in the African-American community but also in the community at large.'

Ellen James can be reached at ejames@tribweb.com or (724) 779-7123.