Reflections- Georgia African American Historic Preservation Network, Vol. 7, no. 2 (Oct. 2007)

Volume VII, No. 2 October 2007
A Program of the Historic Preservation Division, Georgia Department of Natural Resources
FINDING NEW USES FOR THE OLD SCHOOLHOUSE
Jeanne Cyriaque, African American Programs Coordinator
Historic Preservation Division
continued on page 2
One of the leading questions that local school districts ponder
in rehabilitating an old school building is to find an adaptive
use for the building that is more financially feasible than
building a new structure. In Floyd County, the Rome City Schools
found that a historic African American school was structurally
sound, had intact architectural features such as an abundance of
large windows and decorative woodwork, but needed major
renovations and a community purpose to preserve it. By cultivating
partnerships with the alumni, nonprofit organizations and the City
of Rome, they found a new use for this old schoolhouse.
The former Main High School in Rome is a one-story brick
Colonial Revival-style building. When the Rome City Schools were
first established in 1883, there were no provisions for African
American schools. Rented office space was the educational setting
for African American students until the Board of Trustees
constructed the Main Colored
School in 1894. Grades one
through eight were taught at
the Main Colored School until
1925 and by 1930, the
curriculum expanded to grade
eleven. Though the 12th grade
was not added until the early
1950s, the school had become
known as Main High School.
By 1934, Main High
School was overcrowded and
the Board of Education
applied unsuccessfully for
federal funds to build a new
school. Later that year, the
City Council finally approved
$300 for land acquisition and
$11,000 to construct the new
building known today as Main
High School. The new building
consisted of four classrooms
on either side of a doubleloaded corridor.
In spite of the
addition of the new building,
overcrowding continued to be
a problem at Main High School.
So, by 1938 Atlanta architect
Odis Clay Poundstone was
selected to design additions
to the existing building.
Contractor J. P. Roberts
completed the additions in
1939. Reflecting segregation
policies, the new classrooms
were furnished with used desks
from the city’s white high
school, and Main High School
did not receive electric lighting
until 1940, three years after it
was installed in the city’s white
high school.
Since it was the only
public school for African
Americans, Main High
School’s enrollment soared to
over 1,200 students by the end
of World War II, and students
attended school from both
Rome and surrounding Floyd
County. The city purchased
The west elevation of Main High School faced the other buildings on the
campus. Main High School was listed in the National Register of Historic
Places on October 24, 2002. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
Entrances to Main High School have
transoms above other windows and
doors. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
2
Jeanne Cyriaque, continued from page 1
FINDING NEW USES FOR THE OLD SCHOOLHOUSE
land and built a new high school while Floyd County began paying
teachers’ salaries shortly after the Brown v. Board of Education
Supreme Court decision. This strategy resulted in the construction
of six buildings on the Main campus between 1955-1963 that
provided elementary and high school education, along with a
gymnasium. After the new high school building was completed in
1958, the old Main High School became a junior high school and
the auditorium was sub-divided into three classrooms to
accommodate the increasing enrollment.
As in many other Southern cities, massive resistance to
school integration in Rome continued into the 1960s until the
implementation of Freedom of Choice plans for integration of public
schools. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 authorized the U.S. Office of
Education to guide school districts in desegregation plans. It also
empowered the U.S. Attorney General to halt federal education
funds in districts that were found to be discriminatory.
Consequently, in 1966 Rome’s city schools began
desegregation with the transfer of 200 Main High School students
to the previously all-white county high school. During the 1967-
1968 academic year, all Main High School students were allowed to
choose their school under Rome’s Freedom of Choice
Desegregation Plan. Thus, in the 1968-1969 academic year, the
students in the ninth and tenth grades transferred to the East and
West Rome High Schools, and
the other grades transferred
the following year.
Main High School
eventually closed in 1969.
While the other buildings on
the campus continued
educational functions, the
old high school became a
storage facility for the school
system and the meeting place
for the Starlight Masonic
Lodge #433. In 1995, the
African-American Historical
Society of Rome began a
dialogue with the City
Manager to preserve the Main
High School building, thus
saving it from the wrecking
ball. The City Commission
installed a new roof to
prevent further damage to
this historic building.
The African-American
Historical Society began to
seek preservation assistance
with the Rome Historic
Preservation Review Board to
list the building in the National
Register of Historic Places.
The partners sponsored a
nomination to the Historic
Preservation Division and the
Main High School building
along with six other historic
Classrooms and the auditorium were added to the north end of the
building to relieve overcrowding. Photo by James R. Lockhart
Prior to the renovation, this classroom had original blackboards and beaded
wainscoting that were intact. Photo by James R. Lockhart
The classrooms with wood doors and
transoms were saved in the
preservation of the Main High School
building. Photo by James R. Lockhart
Signs above the classrooms
delineate the fraternal and service
organizations’ meeting spaces.
Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
After the renovation, this classroom is used for a technology center equipped
with modern computers. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
3
continued on page 4
Hermina Glass-Avery, African American Programs Assistant
Historic Preservation Division
COMING FULL CIRCLE:
FROM MAIN COLORED SCHOOL TO THE
KELSEY-AYCOCK-BURRELL CENTER
The building located at 41 Washington Drive in Rome, Georgia
evolved from a religious-supported school begun in 1883 to a
racially segregated Rome City school in 1934 to a proud symbol of
community progress known today as the Kelsey-Aycock-Burrell
Center, named for three former principals of the school.
Main Colored High School was immersed in de jure racial
segregation stemming from Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) which
legitimated “separate but equal.” Although that landmark case
applied to public transportation, it was the basis for de facto
segregation in public schools throughout the South. Main Colored
High School in Rome did not escape the impact of this policy.
The school was originally organized in 1883 under the
auspice of the North Georgia General Missionary (Negro) Baptist
Association as Rome High and Industrial School until it was
absorbed into the city school system in 1894. The Board of Trustees
of Rome City Schools agreed to donate land and to build a “main”
This Rome Colored/Main High School class photo was
included in the 2001 reunion booklet. Photo courtesy of
the Rome Colored/Main High School Reunion
buildings on the campus were listed in the National Register of
Historic Places on October 24, 2002.
Rome Colored/Main High School alumni hold biennial
reunions to foster additional community support for the
preservation project. Alumni that still live in Rome and Floyd County
and were active members of nonprofit organizations provided
community services and mentoring programs to students, although
they had no dedicated meeting place. These organizations stimulated
a new use for the old building.
In 2004-2005, the City
of Rome obtained a $820,000
Community Development Block
Grant for the rehabilitation of
the building. This grant
provided the necessary funds
to upgrade the building to
present standards while
maintaining its historic
integrity. Although the city
still owns the building and
pays the utilities, it needed
additional partners to return
the old building to a new
community use.
Today, the new use for the old Main High School includes
the Starlight Masonic Lodge #433, which continues to meet in the
new community center. Six additional community-based, nonprofit
organizations agreed to locate in the building and provide education
and mentoring services to youth. They were: 100 Black Men of
Rome, the African-American Historical Society of Rome, the Martin
Luther King, Jr. Commission
of Rome and Floyd County,
the NAACP, the Rome
Alumnae Chapter of Delta
Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and
the Rome Colored/Main High
School Reunion Committee.
Each organization occupies the
former classrooms of Main
High School . Three common
areas, including a portion of
the former auditorium, provide ample space for larger community
functions and mentoring programs.
Due to the center’s proximity to existing educational
facilities on the campus, students can now attend enrichment
programs on the “hill” where the former Rome Colored/Main High
School once stood. The Kelsey-Aycock-Burrell Center was
dedicated on May 8, 2007. The City of Rome and the KelseyAycock-Burrell Center Board of Directors hosted the ribbon cutting
ceremony and unveiled a plaque inside the center that lists the
many partners who were involved in the preservation of the former
historic school. As the Rome Colored/Main High School Reunion
booklet pointed out, “Main High School has played a vital role in
the educational welfare of a great number of people. This was true
despite many deprivations related to the era in which it functioned.”
The alumni and present partners can now continue the legacy of
this historic school by providing new generations with a community
center that links it to its historic past.
The Rome Alumnae Chapter of Delta
Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. are one of
the community center’s new tenants.
Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
Visitors to the NAACP classroom
receive community information.
Samuel Burrell, who was the last principal of Main High School, receives
a commemorative painting from Curtis Adams, chairman of the KelseyAycock-Burrell Board of Directors during the dedication of the center.
Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
4
COMING FULL CIRCLE: FROM MAIN COLORED SCHOOL TO THE KELSEY-AYCOCK-BURRELL CENTER
Hermina Glass-Avery, continued from page 3
Students attended the weekly assembly in the Main High School auditorium.
This addition to the school was constructed in 1938.
Photo courtesy of the Rome Colored/Main High School Reunion
school for Blacks, hence the name “Main Colored School.” The
school was built on the north bank of the Etowah River due east of
downtown Rome. Other “colored” schools in Rome that were
organized between 1908 and 1929 were held in lodges and only
taught classes through the sixth grade.
One of many buildings contained on the campus, the
historic1934 Colonial Revival inspired building was built for the
purpose of providing new classrooms for the Main Colored School’s
high school department, which was accredited by the Georgia
Accreditation Commission and the Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools in 1932. An auditorium and two more
classrooms were added to the building in 1938 to alleviate
overcrowding. By this time, it would become the only high school
with grades seven through eleven for blacks in the Rome area until
desegregation of the Rome City Schools in 1965. Eventually, the
school would close its doors in 1969 due to low student enrollment.
The hallowed halls of Main Colored High School once
echoed the footsteps and voices of hundreds of students who
received a stellar education despite the double standards practiced
in the Jim Crow South. Principals and teachers alike committed
themselves to providing a standard academic curriculum that
included English, Math, Science, and History. Some vocational
studies were encouraged as supplements to the traditional curriculum.
Historic Main High School was listed in the National
Register of Historic Places in 2002 because of its significance in
Black ethnic heritage, education, and architecture. The recent
rehabilitation of the 73 year-old building that stood in need of repair
for many years has sparked incredible pride for the surrounding
community and all of Rome. Commenting on the current
rehabilitation of the building, former student Rufus Turner, class of
’59 exclaims: “It’s unexplainable. It means that a part of our history,
our heritage, has been preserved and used in the community today
providing services for today’s youth. It’s a symbol of pride for the
race considering when I attended the school. It was not a school
that had all of the amenities of
white schools, but the teachers
were creative. Preserving this
building is helping us to
continue the legacy of African
American education in Rome.
But also, it is an asset to Rome
and the county. Not only to
African Americans, but also to
other races – African
Americans, Caucasians, and
Hispanics. It is one of the ways
that the various communities
can bridge the gaps that have
existed for a very long time.”
Samuel Burrell, the
last principal of Main High
School (1966-1969), reiterates
Turner’ sentiments: “A piece
of African American history is
being preserved for the ages.
My heart was thrilled when the
city obtained a few grants and
was able to restore this place
of history. I am most
appreciative because now it is
a place where the community
as a whole can begin to work
on the problems in the African
American community. Mr.
Kelsey (1922-1940) and Mr. Aycock (1940-1966) provided excellent
leadership on their tours of duty. If Mr. Kelsey and Mr. Aycock
were alive today, I am quite sure that they would be tremendously
thrilled beyond words to see this day come.”
The east wing of the auditorium still provides a large space and a kitchen
for community programs today. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
Rufus Turner is a Main alumnus who
spearheaded the effort to convert the
school to a community center. One of
the classrooms is named in his honor.
Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
Former principal Samuel Burrell
gives remarks at the dedication
ceremony. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
5
REMEMBERING DR. SUSIE WHEELER
Thomas A. Scott, Professor of History
Kennesaw State University
Dr. Susie Weems Wheeler, a great friend of Georgia educators
and historic preservationists, passed away on July 22, 2007.
A native of Bartow County, Dr. Wheeler was born on February 24,
1917. She began her formal education six years later at Noble Hill, a
brand new Rosenwald School in rural Cassville. After graduating
from high school, she began her teaching career at Adairsville
Elementary. During the summers she took college courses,
completing a bachelor’s degree in elementary education at Fort
Valley State in 1945. Shortly afterward she became the Jeanes
Supervisor for rural black schools in Bartow County, a position she
held for two decades.
Since then Noble Hill Rosenwald School has served as
museum documenting what rural African American education was
like in the age of segregation. Over the years I have taken numerous
classes to Noble Hill. Until her health failed Dr. Wheeler would
always meet us, moving the students with her story and her
wonderful, caring attitude. In 2005 Dr. Wheeler spoke at Kennesaw
State University during a symposium that highlighted the history
of Rosenwald Schools. She shared the stage with Jeanne Cyriaque
from HPD and two of Julius Rosenwald’s grandchildren, Alice
Rosenwald and Dr. Peter Ascoli, the latter the recent author of a
book on the great philanthropist who did so much to further African
American education in the South. The night was extra special
because the evening
was Dr. Wheeler’s 88th
birthday. After the
symposium, several
participants and the
Julius Rosenwald
grandchildren toured
the Noble Hill School
and expressed their
appreciation for how
lovingly it had been
preserved and how
well it tells the story of
his great effort at
bringing blacks and
whites together.
Dr. Wheeler
was a lifelong, active member of New Hope Missionary Baptist
Church in Cassville, and was involved in a host of historical and
civic organizations. She has left a wonderful legacy through the
Noble Hill Rosenwald School and through her lifetime of service to
all people. She will certainly be missed.
When the Bartow School District adopted a Freedom of
Choice plan in 1965-66, she became the curriculum director for the
integrated system and played a central role in facilitating a smooth
transition to full integration. She held that position until her
retirement in 1979. A lifelong learner, she worked during these
years on a doctorate in education from Atlanta University,
completing her dissertation in 1977 on A Historical Study of
Strategies for Change in the Bartow County School System from
1965-1975.
Retirement provided Dr. Wheeler the opportunity to engage
in the community in new ways. In the early 1980s she became
interested in preserving the Rosenwald School that she had attended
as a child. In 1982 she invited Carole Merritt of the Georgia Historic
Preservation Division (HPD) for a site visit. With the support of
HPD, future Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Benham,
and others, Dr. Wheeler organized a community effort to save the
school. At the time it had been abandoned for over a quarter century
and was in serious decay. Dr. Wheeler’s sister-in-law, Bertha W.
Wheeler, owned the structure, and by 1984 agreed to donate the
building in memory of her father-in-law and late husband. It was
listed in the National Register of Historic Places on July 2, 1987. By
late 1989 the structure had been renovated and was opened to
the public.
Governor Sonny Perdue recognized the remarkable career of Dr. Susie
Wheeler when she received a Governor’s Award in the Humanities at the
May 2007 annual luncheon.
Photo courtesy of the Georgia Humanities Council
Tom Scott and Alice Rosenwald visited the Noble Hill-Wheeler Memorial
Center heritage museum following the Jewish Life in the South Symposium
that was hosted by Kennesaw State University. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
Peter Ascoli, grandson of Julius Rosenwald,
visits with Marian Coleman at the Noble HillWheeler Memorial Center heritage museum.
Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
6
Hermina Glass-Avery, African American Programs Assistant
Historic Preservation Division
RENDERING VISIBLE THE AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN WASHINGTON, GEORGIA:
PRESERVING THE SCHOOL STREET CEMETERY
Cemeteries convey important social and cultural information
about the interred and their communities by articulating a
group’s folkways, traditions, customs and beliefs. More than just
a graveyard, they are cultural landscape museums encompassing
material symbols that link the past to the present. Through
landscape layout, vegetation, orientation of graves, grave offerings
and plantings, marker types and inscriptions, these open spaces
manifest to the living the longings, aspirations, and hopes of
our ancestors.
Adjacent to the
community ballpark, private
residences, and public
housing lies the School
Street Cemetery, an African
American community burial
ground that most likely dates
back to the plantation era.
Once the backyard to the now
vanished Washington Colored
School, which educated
hundreds of black children
decades before Brown vs.
Board of Education, this sacred
site holds a special place in the
hearts of many African
American Washingtonians. Many of their parents, grandparents,
and great-grandparents who were probably only one generation
removed from slavery are buried there.
Carolyn Barnes, a lifelong resident of the community, recalls
her now deceased grandfather, a former gravedigger, walked her
through School Street cemetery when she was growing up. “He
would point out where certain family members were buried and this
was his way of sharing our family history. I remembered that in our
family babies were buried at the foot of trees. So the rock at the
bottom of trees in our family plots are not just rocks. Somebody, a
baby is buried there. I am not sure if this was practiced by everybody
in the community. But we did it.”
Nestled just southwest of the downtown historic district
in the historically black Whitehall community, formerly “Wylieville”
and later “Freedmanville”, the ruggedly terraced sloping 7.7-acre
cemetery contains approximately 1,700 individual burials with a
substantial number of unmarked depressions and mounds.
While School Street
does not possess the park-like
aesthetics of European-inspired
cemeteries and nor does it
boast of any spectacular
architectural features, what it
does have is a strong sense of
place, presence and power that
deserves inquiry and
recognition because it renders
visible important aspects of the
African American experience in
the town and it contributes
additional heritage value to the
overall historic fabric.
Bound on the north,
west and south by thick trees
and overgrown brush and on
Drive down School Street in Washington, Georgia and the
seen and un-seen vestiges of the past, present, and future will
enthrall you. This thriving working class community holds
tremendous history that bears witness to change – socioeconomic,
environmental, and ecological.
Headstones of all varieties in School Street Cemetery celebrate the African
Americans who lived and worked in Washington and Wilkes County.
Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
The School Street Cemetery landscape encompasses trees and slopes with
graves interspersed throughout the terrain. Photo by New South Associates
Some headstones are broken in the
School Street Cemetery.
Photo by New South Associates
Sections of the School Street Cemetery
contain deep depressions.
Photo by New South Associates
Hermina Glass-Avery
African American
Programs Assistant
Voice 404/657-1054
Fax 404/657-1040
hermina.glassavery@dnr.state.ga.us
Lillian Davis
Dr. Gerald C. Golden
Terry & Cynthia Hayes
Richard Laub
Christine Miller-Betts
Kris Roberts
Isaac Johnson, Chair
706/738-1901
Linda Cooks, Vice-Chair
404/936-2614
Velmon Allen, Vice-Chair
GAAHPN Network
912/261-1898
STEERING
COMMITTEE
Jeanne Cyriaque
African American
Programs Coordinator
Reflections Editor
Voice 404/656-4768
Fax 404/657-1040
jeanne.cyriaque@dnr.state.ga.us
STAFF
7
the east by a dirt road entrance, the landscape is covered with vinechoked oak, pine and pecan trees that cast a canopy over the barren
grounds and the deep crevices created by years of erosion, decay
and neglect.
Cinthia Appling’s family included her photo in the headstone
that adorns her grave. Photo by New South Associates
However, a stroll through School Street Cemetery reveals
a variety of important artifacts that assist in understanding African
and Afro-European traditions that have survived for centuries:
kinship networks, death and burial practices, material and nonmaterial culture including pottery, ceramics, crafts, superstitions
and folk medicine. A few of the marked gravesites contain bits of
biographical information that could prove useful for genealogical
and family history purposes.
Pottery adorns this grave.
Photo by New South Associates
The School Street Cemetery exhibits evidence of continuity
of African and Afro-European culture over time. In attempts to
create family plots, religious interpretations of east-west burial
orientation, the custom of using glass to repel unwanted spirits,
affiliations to fraternal organizations and burial societies– these
funerary practices and symbols aid in understanding some of the
cultural aspects of the African American experience in Washington.
As a recipient of a $19,625 Preserve America grant in 2006,
the City of Washington is currently engaged in spirited efforts to
preserve and maintain the School Street Cemetery. Willie Burns, the
city’s first African American mayor, is hoping to inspire all of
Washington to catch the vision of interpreting and preserving the
full history of this beautiful southern town.
David Jenkins, Hermina Glass-Avery and Mayor Willie Burns stand at the
entrance to School Street Cemetery. Photo by Jeanne Cyriaque
Isaac Johnson
Chairman
The Georgia African American Historic Preservation Network (GAAHPN)
was established in January 1989. It is composed of representatives from
neighborhood organizations and preservation groups. GAAHPN was formed
in response to a growing interest in preserving the cultural and ethnic diversity of
Georgia’s African American heritage. This interest has translated into a number of
efforts which emphasize greater recognition of African American culture and
contributions to Georgia’s history. The GAAHPN Steering Committee meets regularly
to plan and implement ways to develop programs that will foster heritage education,
neighborhood revitalization, and support community and economic development.
The Network is an informal group of over 2,550 people who have an interest in
preservation. Members are briefed on the status of current and planned projects and are
encouraged to offer ideas, comments and suggestions. The meetings provide an
opportunity to share and learn from the preservation experience of others and to receive
technical information through workshops. Members receive a newsletter, Reflections,
produced by the Network. Visit the Historic Preservation Division website at
www.gashpo.org. Preservation information and previous issues of Reflections are
available online. Membership in the Network is free and open to all.
ABOUT GAAHPN
This publication has been financed in part with federal
funds from the National Park Service, Department of the
Interior, through the Historic Preservation Division,
Georgia Department of Natural Resources. The contents
and opinions do not necessarily reflect the views or
policies of the Department of the Interior, nor does the
mention of trade names, commercial products or
consultants constitute endorsement or recommendation
by the Department of the Interior or the Georgia
Department of Natural Resources. The Department
of the Interior prohibits discrimination on the basis
of race, color, national origin, or disability in its
federally assisted programs. If you believe you have
been discriminated against in any program, activity, or
facility, or if you desire more information, write to: Office
for Equal Opportunity, National Park Service, 1849 C
Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20240.
Published quarterly by the
Historic Preservation Division
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
W. Ray Luce, Division Director &
Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer
Jeanne Cyriaque, Editor
A Program of the
Historic Preservation Division
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
34 Peachtree Street, NW
Suite 1600
Atlanta, GA 30303-2316