By Michelle Bliss
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/whqr/local-whqr-832071.mp3
Wilmington, NC – In the early 1900s, Booker T. Washington and a philanthropist named Julius Rosenwald helped set up Rosenwald schools for children in rural black communities.
Together they built more than 5,000 of them in 15 states. North Carolina was home to more of these mostly one-room school houses than any other state.
WHQR's Michelle Bliss reports on how the deterioration of these historic sites has prompted pleas for preservation.
"I got some pictures I want you to see."
Carrie Newkirk is thumbing through a handful of scrapbooks and black-and-white photos spread across her kitchen table, in her home in northern Pender County.
She tells filmmaker Claudia Stack about her time in the 1930s at Chinquapin High School, one of the Rosenwald schools in Duplin County. She says the school helped pave her way to college and a career in teaching.
"There were two rooms that had folding doors and every day those doors would be pushed back at lunch time and we all marched in there and we would have some sort of program, every day. We had a song, script lesson, prayer, and then another song."
Newkirk is a subject of Stack's documentary on some of the Rosenwald schools in southeastern North Carolina.
Newkirk tells Stack what she remembers about the school she attended for 11 years.
"When I started there were five large classrooms. The windows were high up--you couldn't see out the windows. And there was a wood heater in every room. Somebody in the community furnished the wood for the schools."
Despite the disparity between the Rosenwald schools and schools for white children at that time, Newkirk says she never felt cheated.
Filmmaker Stack says the alumni she interviews know their teachers were more than just educators.
"They were grateful to the teachers who were such a guiding force for them. Many of the alumni have said things like the teachers were like second parents to me. They guided us, they gave us things, when we needed new clothes sometimes they would buy them. They were very involved in the students' lives."
Newkirk remembers her parents, who were farmers, participating in bake and craft sales to raise extra money for her school.
That was part of the deal--the Rosenwald Fund required communities to raise between 20-25% of the school's cost, ensuring that everyone was invested in their children's education.
"Some of it was raised for the bus, in later years. Now earlier on, the parents would have a project. Sometimes they would buy extra books because we didn't have many books. Or they might want to buy a map or whatever they felt like was needed."
After schools were integrated, many of the Rosenwald school buildings disappeared or deteriorated. George Edwards, the executive director for the Historic Wilmington Foundation, is concerned about the lack of preservation of North Carolina's Rosenwald schools.
Stack and Edwards visit one of the forgotten Rosenwald buildings: Pender County Training School. The building is still standing, but the wood has faded to a grayish-white. They were hoping to take a peek inside, but the entrance is impenetrable, hidden behind yards and yards of overgrown weeds out front.
Edwards says the roof is starting to deteriorate and pigeons are sneaking inside, causing a number of health concerns.
"It's a nice old structure, but as a wood-frame structure exposed to the weather without any ongoing maintenance this is not going to be here too long. So the community would need to decide if there can be a way to save this building."
For years, the remaining Rosenwald schools have been listed among the top most threatened historic sites by the Historic Wilmington Foundation. Maintaining these beautiful, but quickly fading snapshots of the past, is the key to keeping the memories of Newkirk and other alumni alive. Through Edwards' preservation efforts and Stack's filmmaking, there's hope that these memories will be preserved and shared for generations to come.
Hear Filmmaker Claudia Stack's Lecture
Historic Wilmington Foundation celebrates Preservation Month in May, featuring a lecture from Claudia Stack. Find out more here.
Do you have insight or expertise on this topic? Please e-mail us, we'd like to hear from you. news@whqr.org.