January 30, 2012 Coats Museum News
The month is August of 1926. The Harnett County Board of Education had eight buses added to the school fleet for 1926-27 school year. All buses were Fords except for one Corbitt. “Corbitt? ”You ask. The Board of Education was considering adding Internationals. At this same meeting, a contract was let to D.J. McLeod and C. Covington of Linden for the building of seven colored schools ranging in price from $1400 to $4000. The total contract for the seven schools was $16,000. These would be known as the Rosenwald schools. From Rosenwald funds came about 25 percent of the price of the school, 50 percent from the county, and 25 percent from the local taxation in the colored school district in which the school was located. All improved schools for colored children in Harnett County had been erected this way (Harnett County News August 5, 1926).
Peggy Robinson, a local Black historian and a descendant of the Hollidays in Coats, shared information about the Rosenwald schools. She wrote that the concept of the Rosenwald school was the idea of Booker T. Washington and the staff of the Tuskegee Institute in the second decade of the 1900’s. It was designed to advance rural education for the colored children in the South through the combination of public and private giving. Jewish philanthropist Junius Rosenwald, president of Sears and Roebuck and Company, offered matching grants for African-American school facilities. Some 813 Rosenwald schools were constructed in N.C. between 1915 and the end of the program in 1932. The Coats Colored School was built with Rosenwald funds. The school is no longer standing but was on what today is the Robert Eason Street remembered Frances Harvey who attended the school for a while. Twenty-three Rosenwald schools were built in Harnett County between 1921 and 1930.
Mrs. Robinson wrote that all the schools were built with the same design. Classrooms were built around an auditorium with no halls in the school. As time passed, more rooms were needed to provide classrooms for the growing student population which changed the appearance of the Rosenwald school.
Mount Pisgah had two different school sites. The first school was next door to the Mount Pisgah Church (“Little Egypt”). The second one was a Rosenwald school.
The first Mt. Pisgah School was built in the late 1860’s or early 1870’s. Peggy Robinson has interviewed many of the older black citizens who know about both schools. In most cases they attended one or both of the schools. The following are names which were mentioned in those interviews. Some of them could be students while others were teachers or principals and some could be duplicates. The name McKoy was often spelled as McKay. Other spellings could be incorrect but read the list to discover if any are your ancestors or names that you might have heard: William Shaw, Laura Ryals, Martha Cameron, Nellie McNeill, Dockery Shaw, Bishop Lonnie McKay, Stephen and Katie McKoy, Mrs. Betty Bailey McKoy, Addie McKoy, Georgia Motley McKoy, Lizzie Shaw Melvin, Fannie Johnson, Jake Johnson, Danzle Lee Johnson, Curtis Ryals, Alease Johnson, Buddy Johnson, Rosa McKoy, Lonnie McKoy, Kelly McKoy, Annie Shaw, Ammie Holliday, Nellie Shaw, Alice Shaw, Louise McKoy, Anna McLain, Viola McKoy, Alma McNeill, Henry McNeill, Stacy McKoy, Fannie McKoy, Pudding Holliday, Elizabeth Arnold, Earl McNeill, Sam Smith, Alonzo Holliday, Lillie Ryals, Ernest Elliott, Earl McNeill, Eartha Arnold, Warren G. Ryals, James Arnold, Fess Blackburn, Fess Mack Stewart , Anna Brewster McKoy, Ella Mae Scott, Vera Chalmbers, Ella Pearl Holliday Harris, James Otis Holliday, Henry Lewis Holliday, Johnnie Holliday, Buddy Walden, Lomain Walden, , D.H. Ryals, Jack Spears, W.H. Holliday, Tom Shaw, Mack Shaw, Loretta Blue and James Blue.
Specific individuals that were mentioned as teachers were Tom Morrison from Apex, Setler Barnes, Mrs Gibbs, Mr. Webb, Minnie Stewart, Henry Mack Stewart, Professor Elliott, Mrs. Maggie Ryals, Addie McKoy, Georgia Motley McKoy, Mr. Campbell, Betty Baker McKoy, Lizzie Shaw Melvin, Professor Blackburn, Dockery Shaw, Huegher Shaw, Mrs. Allen from Asheville, Mrs. Catherine Coping, Mrs. Vera Ryals, Elmer Ryals’s wife, and Lula Swann.
The following men served on the Mt. Pisgah School. D.H. Ryals, Jack Spears, and William Holliday served in 1931. Sandy McKoy, Archie Melvin, and Andrew Ryals were members in 1947. In 1950, Sandy McKoy, Archie Melvin and Andrew Ryals represented the Mount Pisgah School. One person interviewed recalled that William Shaw was a committeeman who had a long gray beard and that he checked on the conditions in the school. Was he a superintendant?
The white and black students had the similar recollections of their school days. They studied reading, arithmetic, spelling and writing. They played the same games such as baseball, marbles, pop the whip and exercised by marching or running in circles. Neither race had bathrooms other than the thick woods down the hill. Pot belly cast iron stoves heated the school. Water was drawn from a well with a bucket and a dipper was used by all. Lunch was brought from home and sometimes soup was made from a collection of vegetables that students brought from home. Most of the students had to work on the farm after school.
What happened to the first Mt. Pisgah School? What happened to the second Mt. Pisgah School? Was either school used as a church. Where did the students go when there was no Mt. Pisgah School?
The Coats Museum volunteers are very excited about Black History Month. On the third Saturday in February they will host an event on the Coats Heritage Square for black and white citizens of the Coats Grove Township to be a part of pulling together the history of the black citizens of this area. We are seeking stories from the older citizens about schools, churches, job experiences, businesses, individuals and family traditions. We need information about outstanding black individuals in the fields of education, church, politics, business, medicine, military, civic clubs, entertainment and other areas. Read next week to learn who some of the outstanding special guests and entertainment will be present at this first meeting. Would it not be great to have a book about the Heritage of the Black Community in the Coats Grove Township?
Please be mindful that this column appeared in the Daily Record on January 30, 2012.
The month is August of 1926. The Harnett County Board of Education had eight buses added to the school fleet for 1926-27 school year. All buses were Fords except for one Corbitt. “Corbitt? ”You ask. The Board of Education was considering adding Internationals. At this same meeting, a contract was let to D.J. McLeod and C. Covington of Linden for the building of seven colored schools ranging in price from $1400 to $4000. The total contract for the seven schools was $16,000. These would be known as the Rosenwald schools. From Rosenwald funds came about 25 percent of the price of the school, 50 percent from the county, and 25 percent from the local taxation in the colored school district in which the school was located. All improved schools for colored children in Harnett County had been erected this way (Harnett County News August 5, 1926).
Peggy Robinson, a local Black historian and a descendant of the Hollidays in Coats, shared information about the Rosenwald schools. She wrote that the concept of the Rosenwald school was the idea of Booker T. Washington and the staff of the Tuskegee Institute in the second decade of the 1900’s. It was designed to advance rural education for the colored children in the South through the combination of public and private giving. Jewish philanthropist Junius Rosenwald, president of Sears and Roebuck and Company, offered matching grants for African-American school facilities. Some 813 Rosenwald schools were constructed in N.C. between 1915 and the end of the program in 1932. The Coats Colored School was built with Rosenwald funds. The school is no longer standing but was on what today is the Robert Eason Street remembered Frances Harvey who attended the school for a while. Twenty-three Rosenwald schools were built in Harnett County between 1921 and 1930.
Mrs. Robinson wrote that all the schools were built with the same design. Classrooms were built around an auditorium with no halls in the school. As time passed, more rooms were needed to provide classrooms for the growing student population which changed the appearance of the Rosenwald school.
Mount Pisgah had two different school sites. The first school was next door to the Mount Pisgah Church (“Little Egypt”). The second one was a Rosenwald school.
The first Mt. Pisgah School was built in the late 1860’s or early 1870’s. Peggy Robinson has interviewed many of the older black citizens who know about both schools. In most cases they attended one or both of the schools. The following are names which were mentioned in those interviews. Some of them could be students while others were teachers or principals and some could be duplicates. The name McKoy was often spelled as McKay. Other spellings could be incorrect but read the list to discover if any are your ancestors or names that you might have heard: William Shaw, Laura Ryals, Martha Cameron, Nellie McNeill, Dockery Shaw, Bishop Lonnie McKay, Stephen and Katie McKoy, Mrs. Betty Bailey McKoy, Addie McKoy, Georgia Motley McKoy, Lizzie Shaw Melvin, Fannie Johnson, Jake Johnson, Danzle Lee Johnson, Curtis Ryals, Alease Johnson, Buddy Johnson, Rosa McKoy, Lonnie McKoy, Kelly McKoy, Annie Shaw, Ammie Holliday, Nellie Shaw, Alice Shaw, Louise McKoy, Anna McLain, Viola McKoy, Alma McNeill, Henry McNeill, Stacy McKoy, Fannie McKoy, Pudding Holliday, Elizabeth Arnold, Earl McNeill, Sam Smith, Alonzo Holliday, Lillie Ryals, Ernest Elliott, Earl McNeill, Eartha Arnold, Warren G. Ryals, James Arnold, Fess Blackburn, Fess Mack Stewart , Anna Brewster McKoy, Ella Mae Scott, Vera Chalmbers, Ella Pearl Holliday Harris, James Otis Holliday, Henry Lewis Holliday, Johnnie Holliday, Buddy Walden, Lomain Walden, , D.H. Ryals, Jack Spears, W.H. Holliday, Tom Shaw, Mack Shaw, Loretta Blue and James Blue.
Specific individuals that were mentioned as teachers were Tom Morrison from Apex, Setler Barnes, Mrs Gibbs, Mr. Webb, Minnie Stewart, Henry Mack Stewart, Professor Elliott, Mrs. Maggie Ryals, Addie McKoy, Georgia Motley McKoy, Mr. Campbell, Betty Baker McKoy, Lizzie Shaw Melvin, Professor Blackburn, Dockery Shaw, Huegher Shaw, Mrs. Allen from Asheville, Mrs. Catherine Coping, Mrs. Vera Ryals, Elmer Ryals’s wife, and Lula Swann.
The following men served on the Mt. Pisgah School. D.H. Ryals, Jack Spears, and William Holliday served in 1931. Sandy McKoy, Archie Melvin, and Andrew Ryals were members in 1947. In 1950, Sandy McKoy, Archie Melvin and Andrew Ryals represented the Mount Pisgah School. One person interviewed recalled that William Shaw was a committeeman who had a long gray beard and that he checked on the conditions in the school. Was he a superintendant?
The white and black students had the similar recollections of their school days. They studied reading, arithmetic, spelling and writing. They played the same games such as baseball, marbles, pop the whip and exercised by marching or running in circles. Neither race had bathrooms other than the thick woods down the hill. Pot belly cast iron stoves heated the school. Water was drawn from a well with a bucket and a dipper was used by all. Lunch was brought from home and sometimes soup was made from a collection of vegetables that students brought from home. Most of the students had to work on the farm after school.
What happened to the first Mt. Pisgah School? What happened to the second Mt. Pisgah School? Was either school used as a church. Where did the students go when there was no Mt. Pisgah School?
The Coats Museum volunteers are very excited about Black History Month. On the third Saturday in February they will host an event on the Coats Heritage Square for black and white citizens of the Coats Grove Township to be a part of pulling together the history of the black citizens of this area. We are seeking stories from the older citizens about schools, churches, job experiences, businesses, individuals and family traditions. We need information about outstanding black individuals in the fields of education, church, politics, business, medicine, military, civic clubs, entertainment and other areas. Read next week to learn who some of the outstanding special guests and entertainment will be present at this first meeting. Would it not be great to have a book about the Heritage of the Black Community in the Coats Grove Township?
Please be mindful that this column appeared in the Daily Record on January 30, 2012.