A man who became one of the first Black students to attend an all-white school in Miami-Dade County was honored in a special way. It was a blast from the past at Earlington Heights Elementary School in Northwest Miami-Dade on Wednesday, as Dr. Lorenzo Johnson Sr. served as principal for the day. The pastor has a special connection to the school. In 1961, he became one of its first African-American students, signaling the beginning of the end to segregation there. “I remember walking into the school, and very timidly, but my mother encouraged me to ‘ust have fun,” he said. Johnson did his principal duties and shared his story with students. Even at a young age, Johnson knew what the moment signified and the tension it brought. “Walking into an all-white school, and I knew that there was some resistance, you felt the resistance at one point, because as we were told, and as we saw things, we were able to experience some of the stuff that actually was going on in our community,” he said. Johnson’s story has stood the test of time, inspiring the school’s current principal, Jackson Nicolas. “An obligation that I have to ensure that I’m the best example that I can be for these students, as well as to inspire them to become even bigger and greater and to continue on the legacy of Pastor Lorenzo Johnson,” said Nicolas. “Coming into this school in 1961 with immense and a lot of pressure on him.” A mural at the school immortalizes a historic photo that captured the moment Johnson first set foot at Earlington Heights Elementary. It is a now bittersweet tribute to that fateful day. “That mural, it brings tears to my eyes a little bit, but it also brings joy, because of the main fact that that’s my mother and my brother and my sister, and they all have passed away, and I’m the only one on that mural that’s living,” he said. No matter what, Johnson said, the piece gives students the opportunity to see a piece of history come to life. “Now they get a chance to see that the picture has someone behind that, which is him, and they’re going to be able to make the connection with the great things he did when he was a student here, to him being an adult,” said Nicolas. “It’s an opportunity that living, while I’m living, getting that opportunity, because most of the time, when people get murals on the wall, it’s after the fact,” said Johnson, “but I’m here living today and knowing that this is a great thing and a great feeling to be here.” Johnson is also the founder of the South Florida organization Community Youth Against Violence. The group creates positive, productive opportunities for young people to try and steer them away from crime.