PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Thousands of children's opportunities for education were greatly impacted by a group of young people known as the Cecil B. Moore Freedom Fighters. Their fight began 60 years ago on the campus of Girard College in North Philadelphia.
"It was separation, you know what I mean," said Kelvin Kelly of the 10-foot-high wall that separated the pristine campus from his North Philadelphia neighborhood.
"I would look over the second-floor window, and you could see the kids playing," said Karen Asper Jordan whose family also had a home in North Philadelphia.
The school was distinctly created from orphaned white boys at the bequest of Stephen Girard, the French millionaire whose will left the money to establish the school. As they watched other kids enjoy the benefits of the school, neighborhood kids joined the cause to desegregate it.
"My sister said, 'Hey look we gotta go check this out. So we walked to the wall and everything else was history,'" Bernyce Mills-DeVaughn.
Mills-DeVaughn, Kelly and Jordan all joined the Cecil B. Moore Freedom Fighters. The group was led by local Civil Rights Pioneer Cecil B. Moore.
"He galvanized the people in this neighborhood to know if they stuck together, they could make a change," said Jordan.
In 1965, hundreds of Freedom Fighters spent day and night walking around the wall that surrounded Girard College demanding desegregation.
"They were marching around the wall and singing songs and wanted to come over that wall," said Kelly.
Seven months and 17 days of protest led to a break in the wall and the desegregation of Girard College. The story of Cecil B. Moore and the Freedom Fighters is now told at the museum inside Girard College.
"We didn't think that it would lead us to this," said Mills-Devaughn.
"It's a really important story not just for us but for Philadelphia and the nation as a whole," said Kathy Haas, director of historical resources at Girard College.
As their numbers dwindle, there are fewer Freedom Fighters left to tell the story. It's one that doesn't end with Girard College. The Freedom Fighters helped with civil rights causes across the country. It's a fight they now challenge today's young people to take up.
"You have to keep fighting because it's a continuum," said Jordan. "For every step you take forward, somebody pushes you back two."
Decades after their demonstrations, the Freedom Fighters are often asked to return to the school they once protested.
"This is what we marched day and night for. This is it. This is victory," said Mills-DeVaughn.
The story of the Freedom Fighters is on display at the Girard College Museum. It's open to the public on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and one Saturday a month.