Lawrence (Larry) Burnley
has held many roles: Husband.
Father. Historian. Activist.
Probation Officer. Minister. Published
Author and World Traveler. Vice
President for Diversity and Inclusion at
the University of Dayton. And now, Chief
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer for
the Shaker Schools.
Burnley was a student at Shaker
Heights High School in 1973 and
1974.“You wouldn’t necessarily have
projected me to be that guy,” says he.
“I didn’t think I was that guy. But
there were people in my life who saw
things in me that I didn’t necessarily
see in myself.”
He describes himself at that
time as an average student, “just
learning, having fun, going to games
and parties.” He and his buddy
Zach Green co-managed the girls
volleyball team.
Another classmate, Dee Jor dan
Perry, recalls playing cards, going
bowling, and roller skating with
their friends.
“Larry has a very caring, sincere,
down-to-earth personality and has
always been a great person to be
around,” she says.
Burnley sheepishly recalls getting
a one-day suspension for smoking in
what was then called “Hippie Hall”
(the egress at the High School). “But I
wasn’t a bad kid,” he says. “It was more
of a ‘scared-straight’ kind of thing.”
Burnley arrived at Shaker Heights
High School as a junior when his family
relocated to the Shaker Heights City
School District from the Lee-Harvard
area. It was only a few miles from
where he had grown up, and yet it was
a whole world apart.
“Coming to Shaker was
life-changing for me,” he says.
“I grew up in a predominantly Black
area, and Shaker was a predominantly
white community. It was my first time
navigating that.”
60 SPRING 2022 | WWW.SHAKER.LIFE
Larry Burnley’s father moved to Shaker Heights in 1973 in part to take advantage of the excellent
Shaker schools. Shown here, clockwise: Larry (in tie) with his father Halo Burnley, Jr., mother
Francis Burnley, and siblings Constance Washington, Carolyn Porter, David Burnley, Sr., and
Dr. Margaret Spearmon (center). Photo courtesy fo the Burnley family.
It was also eye-opening from a socio-economic standpoint, seeing both
white and Black students whose parents were professionals and took interesting
vacations. “It exposed me to more diverse views of the world and influenced my
imagination of what could be.” Yet his social circle remained mostly Black.
“I think I really only had one white friend in High School.”
Crucially for Burnley, “Shaker set me on the path to college. It surrounded
me with a peer group that had a clear pathway and commitment to education.
A kind of positive peer pressure if you will.” His mother and father, a mail carrier
in South Euclid, had made it clear that they expected the Burnley children to
attend college. Larry, the middle child of five, gamely followed his older sister’s
footsteps in that direction.
Upon enrolling at the University of Cincinnati, Burnley’s initial ambition was
to become a pilot. A first-year course in African-American history upended those
plans. Up to that point, the only African-Americn history he’d been offered in
school covered slavery, Booker T. Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa
Parks, and other icons of the civil rights movement.
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