BATON ROUGE — One of the first Black student to walk the halls of Baton Rouge High School has died at 78, The Advocate reports.

Aurelius Paul Martinez died in Los Angeles on Feb. 11.

The retired respiratory therapist was among the first Black students to attend the school when the district began integrating in 1963.

When the 14 students arrived for the first day at Baton Rouge High as seniors, they were met with protestors opposing the school's integration. Rather than a school bus, the teens arrived at school in taxis, provided free of charge by Black-owned cab companies and strategically arrived after the first bell had rung so they would walk through empty hallways on their way to their first class.

Aurelius Martinez, first Black student to step foot in Baton Rouge High School, dies at 78 https://t.co/rO7rYsPwgn

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High school seniors were the only grade desegregated in 1963, with 28 Black students being sent to four area schools, The Advocate reported. The other three schools were Glen Oaks, Istrouma and Robert E. Lee — now Liberty — high schools.

According to The Advocate, Martinez's family was deeply involved in the fight for civil rights in the city.

While cleaning out her father's home after his death, Martinez's daughter found certificates given to the Black members of Baton Rouge High School's class of 1964 on the 60th anniversary of their graduation, honoring them for their role in desegregating the city's schools.

She had heard about her father's historic attendance only a few years ago, but he had never told her his story, The Advocate reports.

"It was too painful for him to talk about," his daughter Adele Martinez said.

The Black students were mostly left alone on their first day, Charles Burchell, a clinical psychologist and the only other boy among the 14 Black students enrolled at Baton Rouge High, said.

"But it did get harsher," he said.

White students wouldn't go near the Black students and would "jeer the boys, who might be carrying switchblades," The Advocate reported. Once, an administrator insinuated the boys had only enrolled to date white girls, Burchell said.

Harassment from white students became more common as the school year went on, including constant verbal abuse, Martinez and the other Black students being spat on, pushed, having ink poured on their clothes, being sprayed with urine and worse.