Georgia Academy for the Blind: one hundredth anniversary as a state school, 1852-1952

GEORGIA ACADEMY
FOR THE BLIND

One Hundredth Anniversary As a State School
1852 - 1952

Macon,

Georgia

GEORGIA ACADEMY FOR THE BLIND
2895 VINEVILLE A VENUE MACON, GEORGIA
A State Institution Administered by the State Board of Education for Blind children
1852 - 1952
F. G. ELMS, Upel'illtenclent

GOVER OR HERMA TALMADGE Centennial Comme,wement Speakel'

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATIO -Front row, left to right: W. H. Blount, c:f Waynesboro, First District; Dr. M. D. Collins, State Superintendent of Schools; Chairman George P. Whitman, Jr., of College Park, Fifth District; Ml'S, Julius Y. Talmadge, of Athens, Tenth District; Hers::hel Lovett, of Dublin, Sixth District; (Back row) : L. E. Sweat, of Black~hp.ar, Eighth District; J. D. Rogers, Jr., of Blakely, Second District; Glenn Milner, of Rome, Seventh District; 1l'win Kimzey, of Clarkesville, inth U1Stl'1ct; Clarke W. Duncan. of Buena Vista, Third District, and James S. Peters, of Manchester, Fourth District.
DR. M. D. COLLINS
State Superintendent of Schools Delivers the Baccalau?'eate Sermon

GRADUATING CLASS OF 1952
Left to right: Rachel Ann Satterwhite, Chipley; Farris Rebecca Smith, Gibson; Jonathan David Bell, Lindale; Martha Pauline Moore, Shiloh; Hazel Ruth Carter, Porterdale; Hazel Montrellar Dutton. Lilburn; Robert Wilson Pharis, Columbus; Mary Lucile Carter, Valdosta; James Robert Baxter, Carrollton; June Eloise Hall, Bainbridge; Mrs. Hamp Riley, Butler.
GLEE CLUB
First row, left to right: Frank Pursley, Director of music; Hazel Dutton, Geraldine Giles, Hazel Carter, Katherine Coursey, Willadean Shadrick, Vinelle Douglas, Lucile Carter, Geraldine Moon, Eloise Hall, Mrs. W. L.
orman, Director of Choral Music. Second row: Billy Flynt, Fred Shockley, Edward Butler, Pauline Moore, Rebecca Smith, Barbara obles, Ann Stephens, Dale Albritton, Ander Lee Kenney, Robert Powell. Third row: Jimmy Clark, LaVerne Thomas, S. T. Graham, Hollis Ivester, Herman Gruber, Bobby Baxter, Robert Pharis, Alvin Holcomb, Otis Stephens, Rachel Satterwhite.

Calendar of Commencement Activities

May 2, 8 :00 P.M. May 3, 9 :30 A.M. May 6, 6 :00 P.M. May 9 8 :15 P.M.. May 16, 8 :00 P.M. May 25, 3 :00 P.M. May 27, 8 :00 P.M. May 28, 8 :00 P.M.

.

.

Junior-Senior Prom

Field Day Exercises

Senior Banquet

Senior Music Recital

.. Senior Class Night

. . .. ..__ Baccalaureate Service

Elementary School Exercises

.

Graduation Exercises

I nstl"'/lctioll in reading Braille music

Lea1"'1ling to play pipe organ

Senior Musie Reeital

Program

Bourree in G Major Sonata in G Major Ballade in G Minor, Op. 118

I PIANO
Eloise Hall

Bach Mozart Brahms

II

ORGAN
Prelude in F Major Evening Song Introduction
(From Gothique Suite for Organ) Rebecca Smith

.Bach -Schumann .Boellmann

III

PIANO
Soaring From Fantasie Pieces Romance in F Sharp Major Golliwoog's Cake Walk
Robert Pharis

Schumann Schumann
Debussy

IV

PIANO
Scherzo FI'om Sonata, Op. 2, No. 2 May Night Romance
Rebecca Smith

Beethoven .Palmg1en
8ibclius

V

Menuet Toccata

ORGAN
(From Gothique Suite For Organ)
(From Gothique Suite For Organ) Robert Pharis

VI

TWO PIANOS
Sheep May Safely Graze Romance
Rebecca Smith and Robert Pharis The Sheep and Goat
Eloise Hall and Robert Pharis

Boellrnann Boell'rnann
Bach-Grainge1 A1'ensky Guion

Scene on Playgrounds

A C01'ner of the Lib1'a1-Y

Roll of Gracluates

James Robert Baxter

J onathan David Bell

Hazel Ruth Carter

_._ .. _

Mary Lucile Carter _ _

_

Hazel Montrellar Dutton _ _

June Eloise Hall

Martha Pauline Moore _

Robert Wilson Pharis

Rachel Ann Satterwhite

Farris Rebecca Smith

Carrollton, Georgia L,indale, Georgia
Porterdale, Georgia Valdosta, Georgia Li,lburn, Georgia
Bainbridge, Georgia Shiloh, Georgia
Columbus, Georgia Chipley, Georgia Gibson, Georgia

CERTIFICATES IN PIANO:

June Eloise Hall

Robert Wilson Pharis

Farris Rebecca Smith

Class Officers

Robert Wilson Pharis Hazel Carter Eloise Hall

__
--0---

P'resident Vice-Presilknt
.secretary-Trea~rer

CLASS MOTTO: "Not finished--just begun." CLASS COLORS: Green and Yelfmu CLASS FLOWER : Yellow Rose

MRS. RAMP RILEY
Principal
A teacher at the Academy for 32 years.
Sponsor of Class of 1952.

Baccalaureate Service
SUNDAY, MAY 25, 1952 3:00 P.M.

Program

Prelude-"Now Thank We All Our God"

lJacl1

Processional Grand March

Verdi

From Aida Mr. Frank Pur ley
Hymn-"The Spacious Firmament on High" From the Creation (Congregation)

Haydn

Invocation "Trust In the Lord"

Rev. Ernest E. Thompson Pastor, First Christian Church
Handel From Xerxes Rebecca Smith

"Toccata"

(From Gothique Suite for Organ) Robert Pharis

Eo llmann

"The Heavens Proclaim Him" "Cast Thy Burden Upon the Lord"
From Elijah Chorus

.Beetl1oven i\!lendels olm

Introduction of Speaker Sermon
Benediction
Recessional-"March of the Priests"

Supt. F. G. elms
Dr. 1. D. Collins State School Superintendent
Rev. Mack Anthony Pastor, Vineville Methodist Church
MemlelssaTtn

MAIN BU

Commencement Exercises

WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 1952 8:00 P.M.

Program

Prelude-"Adagio" Processional Grand March
Invocation Alma Mater

, Mendelssohn Verdi
From Aida
Mr. Frank Pursley Rev. J. L. Hillis
Pastor, Cherokee Heights Methodist Church

Salutatory

Robert Wilson Pharis

"Come To The Fair"

Mcotin

Eloise Hall

"Sheep May Safely Graze"

Bach

First Piano, Robert Pharis; Second Piano, Rebecca Smith

"May Day Carol"

Ta111ol

"Gloria in Excelsis

Mozart

Chorus

Valedictory

Farris Rebecca Smith

Announcements

Supt. F. G. Nelms

Introduction of Speaker

Dr. M. D. Collins State Superintendent of Schools

Address

Hon. Herman E. Talmadge Governor of Georgia

Awards

Mrs. Hamp Riley

Presentation of Diplomas

Dr. M. D. Collins

Benediction

Rev. Harry Moore

Recessional-"March of the Priests"

Mendelssohn

ILDING

Elementa?'y grade children leal'ning to ?'ead B?'aille.
Geography taught with jig-saw maps

HISTORY
T HE Georgia Academy for the Blind has served the specialized educational needs of visually handicapped children for 0 n e hundred years as a State institution. During that time, it has made a distinct contribution to the educational, cultural, moral, and economic advancement of the State. Its graduates have gone into various fields of activity and fully justified the faith of the founders.
The pre ent plant for white children, erected in 1906 on Vineville Ave. in Macon, is a residential school for more than 100 boys and girls. The school for egroes, established on Madison Street in 1881, has a current enrollment of 60 children.
In the past the Academy has experienced periods of progress under the supervision of able and devoted administrators. And, conversely, it has faced many crises brought on by economic stress, changes in administration, and the War Between the States,
While Georgia citizens may take pride in the traditions and accomplishments of the school, there is pressing need for modernization and expansion of some facilities, particularly those on the egro school campus. Under the Minimum Foundation Program for Education funds for these improvements will be available. Plans already have been drawn for a new building for egro students at a new location on a tract of 30 acres.
The main building on Vineville Ave. is a massive two-story structure with three wings, housing class rooms, dormitories for students and staff, auditorium, dining hall and kitchen.
The program of instruction covers the usual academic subjects taught in public schools for sighted children, together with vocational courses such as handicraft, typing and dictaphone operation, woodwork, piano-tuning, chair-caning, and basket-weaving. Courses also are offered in musicvoice, piano, pipe organ, theory and

Reciting It'om Braille textbooks

harmony, and choral singing.
The Glee Club has appeared before civic groups and on radio throughout Georgia and elsewhere.
The students have demonstrated their ability to compete wit h the sighted children in district and Statewide contests. For the past two years they have won the State Literary Trophy in Class C.

The school is fully accredited as to both the elementary and high school grades.
Children who are eligible through loss of vision are admitted at the age of six, and may remain in school through the Senior year.
In recent years there has been close cooperation between the Academy and the Vocational Rehabilitation Division of the State Department of Educa-

High School students lem'ning to use typeun'itets

Solving arithmetic problems using Braille slate.
High School students lea1"1ting chai1"-caning

tion. At the Academy students receive basic training, discover aptitudes, and make vocational choices. Upon graduation, they may be as isted by Vocational Rehabilitation in further specialized training in technical schools, colleges, industrial or business establishments, and then placed in employment.
In order to better correlate this program, the State Board of Education recently placed the school under the general upervision of Paul S. Barrett, State Director of Vocational Rehabilitation.
The philosophy which has guided the school through a century of operation by the State was expressed clearly by the Board of Trustees in Memorial to the General Assembly to "pass the bill to incorporate and endow the Academy."
These far-sighted men-Absalom H. Chappell, John B. Lamar, Nathan C. Munroe, James H. Green, Edwin B. Weed, Edwin Graves, and Robert A. Smith-had established and administered the school as a private charity for one year.
They had a remarkable grasp of the problems in educating visually handicapped children, and of the economic and social advantages of such services. With modern techniques of instruction, the ideals set forth in their Memorial may be fully realized.
Here are some excerpts from the Memorial dated December 15, 1851:
"According to the census of 1840, there were one hundred and thi1"ty-six of this unfortunate class (the blind) in the State. By the census of 1 50, theiT ntl1nbe1' had increased to two hundred and thi1ty.
"From 1'eliable information, we are assured there is in each county an ave1'age of more than one not 1'eturned in the State census, at the lJresent time, would be properly estimated as above three hundred. . . .
"It becomes, therefo)'e, a matter of serious inquiry, whether or not the hithe1'to neglected and increasing P01"tion of om' pOl:nllation shall 1'emain without education and the means of maintenance. The mass of them have not 1'ecei'vecl even the rudiments of mental education, consequently they

High School boys learning piano-tuning

have been and a1'e still growing up in the dU1'kness of dependent ign01'once, Their moral natures have been equally neglected, hence many of them have leanted only the lessons of '!)ice and the evils of clime in the school of 1'eal adve1'sity, Having been the objects of commiseration, they have 1'eceived no indust?'1al instruction and are living in idleness as useless drones, without the disposition or the skill to be usefully employed, While some few of them, f1'om the advantages of wealth and of oml inst1'uction, or from rema?'kable talent and

virtue, have become 1'espectable and hono1'able members of society, the largest part of them a1'e stlpported by charity and subject to the evils of 1JOl'erty, P1'1Vate beneficence has elevated some of these sightless beings to independence; a few others, by thei?' own me1';t, have ?'isen to usefulness and distinction in the State, but the large majority a?"e still without knowled:;e, without employment, without virtue and without hap1Jiness, The neglected children of misfortune, they are at once a shame to themselves and a ?'eproach to the State, The ex-

Scene in Woodworking Shop

Girls learning to weave perience of other States and countries has proved conclusively that this is not necessarily the condition of this class. It has been demonst1'atecl that theil' minds can be cultivated to the highest degree of "efinement, that they are capable of learning as well the abstruse sciences as the mechanic arts, that thei?' morals are eq1wlly susceptible of im1Ji'ovement, and that they can enjoy almost evel'y social pleasme. It has been shown, too, that from being indigent and expensive non-produccrs and COllSWnel'S, thejJ can be elevated to the condition of active and happy industrial agents.
Typical scene in dining hall

Some of thc best musun-ans, music teachel's, pianists and organists in this countl'y al'e fl'om among the educated blind. !tIany others enjoy a remunerating snccess in various othel' handic;'aft 1,ursuits, and it is the just pride of the Institutions for the Blind that they havc elevated their pupils from the necessity of charity, to honoi'able and inde1Jendent avocations in society."
The bill incorporating the Academy was passed by the Legislature and signed by Go\-ernor Howell Cobb on January 19, 1 52.
The same Trustees continued under the State charter. They elected James M. Green as president; Nathan C. Munroe, Treasurer; and Robert A. Smith, Secretary; according to records published in book form in 1877.
Professor Walter S. Fortescue, who had interested a group of Macon citizens in establishing the school, was retained as principal. He came to Macon from the Pennsylvania School for the Blind, and remained there until 1853 when the school appeared to be fu'mly established.
The school had been started with a fund of $802, raised by public subscriptions. With this money the sponsors rented rooms, bought furniture and equipment, including a piano, and hired a matron to assist Profe or Fortescue.
The Legislature appropriated $5,000 for operation of the Academy as a State School.
During the War Between the States the school was moved to Fort Valley. The building was used as a hospital. Records show that before the close of the war the Trustees admitted at least one young Confederate Veteran who had lost his sight in battle.
A new building, erected at a cost of $50,000 on a site at Orange and Forsyth streets, was occu pied on J anuary 7, 1 59. The Academy remained at t hat location until the present buildings were completed.
Professor Fortescue, the founder, was succeeded as principal by Henry Dutton who was soon followed by May Horn and W. . Chaudoin. For a time there was a vacancy in the position

and Miss Hannah Guillan filled the gap.
In 1858, W. D. Williams was appointed principal. He l'emained in this position for many years. On May 7, 1906, the Board of Directors, which still operated the school under its original Legislative chartel:, elected Professor G. F. Oliphant as Superintendent.
Professor Oliphant served in this capacity until his retirement in 1936. He was succeeded by Professor J. W. Williams who served for two years. Mr. Williams was followed by Rev. R. J. Mincey.
Then the Academy was placed under the administrative authori ty of the State Board of Education, and John Herndon was appointed to the

position of Superintendent. He remained in that p sition for six years.
In 1949, Mr. J. W.' Williams was returned as Superintendent and served until September :1J1, 1950 when Mr. F. G. Nelms was appointed.
He has a rich background of experience as public school principal, superintendent, and counselor in the Vocational Rehabilitation D i vision Services for the Blind.
Over the span of a century thousands of blind children have been educated at the Academy. Many have reac~ed places of high attainment in the business, professional, ocial, religious and political life of the State. By their uccesses they have demonstrated that while blindness is a handicap, it may be overcome through propel' education and training.

Girls are taught sewing for future homemaking responsibilities or as a step toward industrial employment.

Faculty Officers

1951 - 1952

ADMI ISTRATIVE DEPART !IE T

Paul S. Barrett F. G. Nelms W. J. Morton
Wm. Harry Moore Miss Agnes Williams

Director Superintendent
Accountant
Field Representative Secretary to Superintendent

ACADEMIC DEPARTME T

Mrs. Hamp Riley W. O. Brown Mrs. Lenora Dabney Miss Gay Hitchcock Miss Hazel Hughes Miss Alice Humphries Miss Irene Jung Miss Margaret Loudermilk Mrs. Ellen C. Nelms Miss Catherine Pirkle Barna C. Jones Leon Watson

Supervising Teacher High School Teacher Commercial Department Elementary Teacher Elementary Teacher Elementary Teacher Homemaking and Crafts High School Teacher-Librarian High School Teacher-Counselor Elementary Teacher
Vocational Teacher Vocational Teacher

MUSIC DEPARTMENT

Frank S. Pursley
Mrs. W. L. Norman Mrs. Marion C. Henigbaum

Director, Music Department
Choral Music and Voice Piano

Mrs. Daisy Boone Mrs. Rosa Cartledge Mrs. Iva C. Ingle Mrs. J. M. McGregor Mrs. Mbel C. Ray

HOUSEKEEPING

Dietitian Junior Girls' Supervisor Senior Girls' Supervisor Senior Boys' Supervisor Junior Boys' Supervisor

Negro School Faculty

Cleon R. Bonner John Cheeves Leila Cheeves George McClendon
litford Moore Leola Peny Emma L u Sutton Exa Solomon Lillie . Walker

Principal High School Teacher Elementary Teacher Elementary Teacher
Vocational Teacher Music Department Elementary Teacher High School Teacher Elementary Teacher

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"There is no class of beings to which education is of greater importance-none in which it becomes more useful to society, and none in which the parental duty is more binding, or the obstruction to its discharge is more appalling." -Excerpt from report of Principal, of Trustees, 1878.