By T. Scott Boatright
A summerlike wind parted the clouds and allowed the sun to shine Tuesday as the city of Grambling dedicated the street leading into Lincoln Preparatory School as Dr. Birdex Copeland, Jr., Drive.
Copeland, who died in 2020 at the age of 76, retired from Grambling State University, where he served as professor, head of the Department of Sociology and dean of the School of Social Work.
He also was a member of Grambling’s City Council and played a key role in founding Lincoln Preparatory School after the old Grambling Laboratory School was ordered to be closed as part of a decades long desegregation case that began in 1966 and was finally dismissed in 2016..
Dr. Copeland’s sister Mary Copeland James and brother Charles Copeland each briefly spoke during the ceremony following an introduction by Grambling Mayor Alvin Bradley.
But it was Dr. Copeland’s widow, Lolita Collins-Copeland, who made the same kind of impact with her words as her late husband was known for.
As she began, Lolita Copeland thanked Lincoln Prep Acting Executive Director and a group of older students and band members from the school for being on hand for the occasion.
“This ground we’re standing on today is holy ground,” Lolita Copeland said. “It’s a vision and a dream that came true. A promise that God allowed us to be here to see today. We’re very grateful. Thank you Mrs. Washington for carrying the torch. We know that the work might not always be easy for you, but keep pushing forward so that Lincoln Preparatory Charter School will continue to be a beacon of hope, and light, to this community.
“My husband was so committed in making sure that Grambling had a school for our youth, our young people — you see them here today — to be where they are continually educated. To prepare them for the future, to prepare them for this world so that they will be a reflection of us — African American people. Thank you, young people, for being here today. My husband is smiling on you.”
Lolita Copeland said the street isn’t only a roadway dedicated in her late husband’s honor
“It is a road, a street which leads to preparing our young people to being prepared and equipped for their promising futures,” she said. “We must — and I say this to all of us here today — we must invest in our young people. We must invest in them. We must meet them where they are.
“Yes, they are different than many of us that are older folk, and that’s OK. But we must be patient with them, and hear them, and embrace them, and love on them. Now, for those of you who knew my husband, he didn’t believe in tooting his own horn. He believed in rolling up his sleeves and putting in the work. It was always about this community.”
Lolita Copeland said that his love for the school which became known as Lincoln Preparatory School was based on his love for the community it serves.
“It was always about this community,” she said. “Birdex loved Grambling. He loved his students, he loved the future young people, and he loved Grambling State University. So, on behalf of our family, the Copeland family, we say thank you.
“We are so humbled by this acknowledgment and recognition of a life well lived. And we are grateful to you. For each and every one of you who have come to play a part in this day, whatever that part may have been, great or small, we humbly thank you and ask that God may continue to bless you and keep you”
Lincoln Preparatory School Board member Robert Wiley spoke of how Copeland became a driving force behind the school’s creation after the old Grambling Laboratory School was closed as part of a decades long desegregation case, fighting for a new school even during times it looked like that might not happen.
“When the charter school starter, (former CEO Gordan Ford) called me and asked me to come to Baton Rouge with him, Dr. Copeland and some people from GSU,” Wiley said. “We were trying to save the school, because really, the school — the old school — was going to be shut down. And we were trying to figure out how we could save Grambling schools.
“So, we went down and were interviewed by the Department of Education’s Charter School Committee. My role was supposed to be to talk about finances and how we were going to make it work — what kind of finances we were going to receive to make the charter school work. The education people were supposed to talk on the education side of it, and Dr. Copeland was to serve as the elder statesman along with us.”
Wiley said at first those talks were not going good.
“I had charts and graphs and was telling them about the finances, and the education people were talking about the education component,” Wiley said. “And the Board was like, Lincoln Parish has a good (school system), so why can’t those kids just go to the Lincoln Parish Schools? And we were trying to convince them that Grambling needed a school of its own.
“And that’s when Dr. Copeland stepped up and talked about the history of Grambling, and why we had a school here in the first place. And he went all the way back to the ’60s and brought them back to 2000. With his passion, and the way he expressed himself in talking to that group, after he got through talking we could tell that the whole atmosphere had changed. And they were ready to approve the charter school in that meeting after he got through talking.”
But Dr. Copeland’s vision and dream was more than simply a new school.
He was thinking bigger.
“The charter school got approved and Dr. Copeland became president of the Board and I worked as his vice president for many years and enjoyed every minute working with him,” Wiley said. “I learned so much from him about being a leader.
“Dr. Copeland looked at the big picture. He was always a visionary and would always say, ‘Let’s not get caught up in the weeds,’ because his goal was to have a successful school in Grambling. And we’d have all these weeds — naysayers — we’d have to go through asking why we named the school this and whatever. And he was always calm. He was always thoughtful and was always a great leader, and I can’t think of a better person for this street to be dedicated to, and I’m so happy we’ve done that.”
