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Gloria Lockerman's Spelling Bee Upset 2020-10-16

Every year Baltimoreans hear about the National Spelling Bee where 12-year-old contestants are successfully spelling such esoteric words as tenebrous, dysphagia and retrogression. Up through the 1950s students from Baltimore City's junior high schools, under the sponsorship of the Baltimore Sun, competed in the National Spelling Bee. And here is where we begin the heartbreaking story of a little, 12-year-old African-American girl named Gloria Lockerman.

Gil Sandler was born and raised in Baltimore -- a circumstance he considers fortunate and one he does not want you to forget. He attended public school (P.S. #59, Garrison Junior High, Baltimore City College, Class of 1941) and then served in the United States Navy.
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