By Shirley A. Satterfield

We grew up in Princeton during the 1940s and 50s. A time when the Witherspoon Jackson Neighborhood was like a loving, caring village. We felt the presence of segregation in Princeton, however, as children we were protected from the sting. We lived in a community where our parents were hard-working laborers, housekeepers, beauticians, barbers, and small business owners. We went to the Witherspoon School for Colored Children and even though we weren’t welcome to shop on Nassau Street it didn’t matter because we had everything in our loving neighborhood.

I returned home in 1981, after being employed as teacher and high school guidance counselor in three states. This was the time that Brother Henry and I began to talk about our rich history. He had already started documenting our history through interviews. I remember when he interviewed my mother, Alice Satterfield, when she was recognized for her many years of service as the Secretary of the Housing Authority. To preserve his interviews, he gave them to the Princeton Historical Society.

We met many times talking about how we could preserve our history. The first time we really got together to share our history was in 1998. It started when the Princeton Chapter of the NAACP Legal and Educational Defense Fund had their yearly event and the focus that year was on the integration of the Princeton Schools. Doctor Chester Stroup, then Principal of the Nassau Street School, and I gave a presentation about the Princeton Plan.

Because of this presentation the legal defense fund produced a documentary called “Princeton Plan 50 Years Later,” which can still be viewed on YouTube. Brother Henry and I were featured in that documentary along with Thomas Artin who had been an elementary student at Nassau. The three of us were the students who were in elementary school during the transition between the Witherspoon School for Colored Children and the Nassau Street school. It’s a noted documentary where we voiced our feelings and opinions as to how we felt as part of this integration.

Our third venture was in 2001 when we met Professor Kathryn Watterson, then a professor at Princeton University. She first visited my home to visit my mother and to talk about having her students interview many residents in our community. Years passed and Brother Henry contacted Kitsi, who had then moved to Philadelphia, to ask that she publish the many interviews of our families. Through him, Penney Edwards Carter, and Clyde “Buster” Thomas, the book was published in 2017 and has been a treasure for our community and has touched the hearts of many who have read or listened to readings of the book.

About three years ago we again found our own histories intertwined with historical events, when Ms. Elizabeth Romanaux, Founder and Director of the Princeton Einstein Museum of Science, met with the Witherspoon-Jackson Historical and Cultural Society Trustees to welcome a partnership with the future museum. Both Brother Henry and I are featured in one of the museum’s traveling exhibits featuring Albert Einstein as a scientist, humanitarian, and a noted visitor and respected acquaintance to many Witherspoon-Jackson residents.​

Princeton Einstein Museum of Science Traveling Exhibit Panel featuring Shirley Satterfield and Hank Pannell

In fact, during our childhood, Brother Henry lived with his family one house from the corner of John and Jackson Streets. He remembered when Albert Einstein would walk one block past the Playhouse Theatre and stop by the Pannell house; he was welcomed to sit on the porch and often did!

I lived six blocks from Jackson Street at 15 Clay Street (when our homes were removed and the Hegeman Houses were built, we started calling it “Old Clay Street”). I have many fond memories of living on Old Clay Street, holding my mother’s hand and walking to the Institute for Advanced Study where my mother worked. Often when Albert Einstein came to the cafeteria for lunch, he would take me for walks around the Institute grounds. I don’t remember what he said but I know how he looked, and I know how kind he was while we walked together.

Brother Henry and I both had the privilege of knowing and being with Albert Einstein, as did many residents in our community. Many years ago, we met and became friends with Frederick Jerome, an author of several books about Albert Einstein. One book that he wrote, along with co-author Rodger Taylor, included interviews by several residents in Princeton who knew Albert Einstein. Many featured in the book, Einstein on Race and Racism, were interviewed in my dining room and Brother Henry and I are proudly featured in the book.

I am honored and pleased to have had Henry Pannell as a dear friend. I got to know him more when we got older – the times that we talked about our history, meeting with him at the Pannell Center when he mentored the young men in Princeton, going to Olive Garden often with Penelope Edwards Carter. The three of us would enjoy a meal and talk about old times and what’s going on in the world today. He was a friend, a mentor, a community activist, the initiator and developer of the Henry Pannell Learning Center, an interviewer of our families in the Witherspoon Jackson community, a great fisherman, a lover of plants, a devoted and beloved husband, father, and grandfather.

Thank you, Brother Henry, for your many years of promoting excellence and pride in our youth, and for loving, caring for, and recording the rich history of the Witherspoon-Jackson Community.