Former Rosenwald School for built for African American Students

Dallas County Training School, Fordyce Arkansas

Date added: July 23, 2024 Categories:

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Contrary to common belief, the education of many southern African Americans took place on southern plantations while many were slaves. Some masters allowed a few of their slaves to become skilled workers or artisans by permitting them to be apprentices or employees of craftsmen outside the plantation. In fact, it was quite profitable for the plantation to have a number of skilled slaves in order to avoid having to hire expensive mechanics, craftsmen, machinists, seamstresses, etc. Education also took place among the children, often without master's knowledge. Many of the children of the masters thought it quite amusing to play "school" and teach the slave children how to read and do math. To the children, it was a game, but in actuality, it was part of the beginning of the black education movement in the South after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. In fact, many slaves were able to use their talents and skills to gain their manumission, or to do enough work outside the plantation to buy their way out of slavery.

After the Emancipation Proclamation and the flight of the blacks to northern cities, many religious organizations and education-oriented groups realized the need for education among the black refugees. Plantation life had left many blacks unable to cope with life in the city or with finding jobs. Benevolent societies sprang up in cities such as Boston, Chicago, New York, Cincinnati, and Philadelphia in 1862-1863. Together with church organizations, they provided food, clothing, religious leaders, money, and teachers for the newcomers. Church organizations were the leaders in the freedman's school system in its beginning stages. At the forefront of the religious groups was the American Missionary Association, organized in 1849 to operate Christian missions and educational institutions at home and abroad. Other religious groups included The Baptist Church, North (or Home Mission Society), the Freedman's Aid Society, and the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church; a great deal of the money and supplies these groups provided were dispensed through the Union Army. In March 1862, the New England Freedman's Society, along with General Edward L. Pierce and numerous other educators, initiated the Port Royal Experiment. The Experiment involved developing the economy, directing blacks to economic independence, and organizing schools.

In 1863 the Freedman's Inquiry Commission suggested the creation of a government agency to deal specifically with the care of the freedmen. In 1865 Congress passed an act creating the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, otherwise known as the Freedmen's Bureau. The Bureau was useful because it committed the United States to the task of caring for the freedmen, and because it made that care a part of the official structure by which the South was being controlled. Even though the Freedmen's Bureau was able to remedy many of the flaws of the relief programs for the freedmen, it was the strongly motivated individuals of the religious groups and benevolent organizations that were mainly responsible for the education of the blacks. These individuals were for the most part devout Christians and well-trained teachers from New England.

One of the zealous individuals that became one of the most significant figures in southern black education was Julius Rosenwald. Rosenwald was quite successful as a businessman, but his philanthropic work has always overshadowed his financial success. He entered the clothing business in New York in 1878. In 1895 he invested $35,000 in the stock of Sears, Roebuck, and Company, and in less than thirty years it grew into $150,000,000. He became president of the mail-order firm in 1910 and then chairman in 1925. During the years Rosenwald was most active as a philanthropist, Sears and Roebuck expanded into the retail chain-store business, and he was actually absent from the company from 1916 to 1919. As early as 1910, Rosenwald was a trustee of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and made gifts on behalf of the rural school movement to the Institute, primarily through close contact with Booker T. Washington. His funds made possible the erection of sixteen YMCA buildings and one YMCA building for blacks. This stimulated gifts from others for similar projects in many cities in both the North and South, including the financial support for a large black housing project in Chicago. Rosenwald was active in a number of Jewish organizations and granted substantial financial support to the National Urban League. Also, he was appointed a member of the Council on National Defense and served as chairman of its committee on supplies.

In 1917 Rosenwald established the Julius Rosenwald Fund. This fund was destined to attract more money to the benefit of black education than any other philanthropic undertaking to this date. The fund's broad purpose was for the betterment of mankind irrespective of race, but it was aimed more specifically at creating more equitable opportunities for black Americans. Unlike many charity organizations, the Rosenwald Fund was to only help a school if the community, blacks and whites alike, had raised some of the money themselves; however, the black community usually provided the labor. Rosenwald and the directors of his trust first directed their attention toward building rural schools, later toward high schools and colleges, and finally toward the providing of grants and fellowships to enable outstanding blacks and whites to advance their careers. Not only did the Rosenwald Fund help to build rural schools, it was also responsible for a number of buildings and libraries on college campuses. The directors of the trust were also involved to a certain extent in the direction of the curriculum at all levels of education. Their emphasis was on the educational needs of country children. They maintained that some vocational skills were necessary, as were the ability to do some math, to read and write clearly, to have some understanding of biological processes and farming, and to understand the fundamentals of sanitation and health.

State records indicate that when the fund ceased activity in 1948, it had aided in the building of 389 school buildings (schools, shops, and teachers' homes) in 45 counties in Arkansas. The total amount contributed by the fund was $1,952,441. The state or counties owned and maintained all of the schools, and the land was usually donated by a white landowner. In Arkansas, R. C. Childress of Little Rock was the Rosenwald Building Agent. Childress was the first degree graduate of Philander Smith College and was the second black person to work for the state Education Department. He dedicated his life to education and, consequently, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff has named Childress Hall for him, and the high schools in Wynne and Nashville were named for him.

The high school at the Dallas County Training School was established with the 1918 and 1919 academic year, and served students from Bradley, Calhoun, Cleveland, and Dallas counties. When the high school was established in 1918, it was one of less than fifteen high schools for blacks in Arkansas, and one of less than ten public high schools for blacks. (It would remain the only high school for blacks in the four county area until 1940.)

The influx of students from these counties plus the growth of local interest provided the stimulus for the construction of the present building in 1931 to replace the former wood-frame building. The receiving of a grant from the Rosenwald Fund and the gift of the land for the building from the Shelton family, a local black family, encouraged the Dallas County School District to complete the construction.

The high school building cost $12,590 to build, with $300 dollars being donated by blacks, $9,690 coming from public funds, and $2,600 coming from the Rosenwald Fund. Of the five school buildings built in Dallas County with Rosenwald funds, the high school building was by far the largest and the most expensive. A shop building was also built on the campus at the same time, also using Rosenwald funds. That building had three classrooms, and cost $3,600 to build. Of that amount, $200 came from blacks, $2,700 came from public funding, and $700 came from the Rosenwald Fund. (The shop building was demolished in 1954 to make way for a new elementary school.)

When the new high school building opened in the section of Fordyce called Mt. Tabor, it was used by students in grades 6-12. The building had six classrooms, including one used as a library and classroom, and a small office. The plan of the high school does not appear to have used a standard plan offered by the Rosenwald Fund. However, buildings constructed using Rosenwald funds were not required to use the standard plans. The only requirement was that whatever plan was used had to be approved by the Fund. Teachers working at the school during the 1932 and 1933 school year included V. E. Bryant (Math and Science), I. G. Bussey (Literature and English), E. B. Wallace (Political Science), and B. S. Brantley (Home Economics). When the new elementary school was built on the campus in 1954, an addition was also constructed on the rear of the high school building. The new addition included a separate library and girls and faculty restrooms on the upper level along with two additional classrooms and a boys restroom on the lower level.

The Dallas County Training School High School building continued to serve the black population until 1970 when the Dallas County Schools were integrated. At that time, it was converted to use as a part of the Fordyce School District's elementary school housing kindergarten through third grades. It later housed only fifth grade students and was finally phased out completely in 2001. Although the building is currently vacant, it is planned to rehabilitate the building and use it as a community help center, including after-school programs and other programs to better the lives of the area residents.

Building Description

The Dallas County Training School High School Building is a rectangular brick building located on the east side of Fordyce in the Mt. Tabor section. The building has a gable on hip roof covered in diamond-shaped shingles and rests on a continuous cast concrete foundation. Both sides of the building are lined with banks of windows that provide plenty of natural light to the classrooms. The main portion of the building was constructed in 1931 with assistance from the Rosenwald Fund. A flat-roofed addition was added on to the rear of the building in 1954.

Details

The Dallas County Training School High School Building is a rectangular brick building located at 934 Center Street on the east side of Fordyce in the Mt. Tabor section. The original portion of the building, which was built in 1931 with assistance from the Rosenwald Fund, has a gable on hip roof covered in diamond-shaped shingles and rests on a continuous cast concrete foundation. Both sides of the building are lined with banks of windows that provide plenty of natural light to the classrooms. The original building had six classrooms and a small office, and was used for grades 6 through 12. It was the only black high school in the Bradley, Calhoun, Cleveland, and Dallas County area until 1940.

A flat-roofed addition was added on to the rear of the building in 1954. The addition provided a library space, two additional classrooms, and restrooms for the students and faculty. It is also built of brick, but has a brick foundation rather than a cast concrete foundation.

The front facade has a central entrance with two metal doors. Each door has a plain bottom half with a large-paned window in the top half. A set of concrete steps approaches the entrance from the street and a handicapped access ramp approaches from the west. A new metal canopy connects the entrance with the other buildings on the campus and an original awning extension of the roof exists above the canopy.

The central entrance is flanked on each side by a decorative brick panel. Each panel has a stone marking the four corners. The stones are connected to each other by a row of soldier bricks. The panels are filled in with bricks laid in a stack bond, as opposed to common bond like the rest of the building.

The gable end of the roof is filled in with a louvered attic vent, and exposed rafter tails run the length of the eave.

The west facade is lined with five banks of windows on the original 1931 building. Going south to north the groupings consist of five windows, five windows, two windows, three windows, and three windows. Each window consists of three panes, although the top pane is colored white because of the lowered ceilings

inside. The current windows are not original, but the window openings reflect the original size. The window sills consist of a row of rowlock bricks.

The bottom of the brick wall, just above the concrete foundation, is spanned by a row of soldier bricks, and the eave is lined with the exposed rafter tails of the roof structure. One brick chimney is present between the first and second banks of windows.

The west facade of the 1954 addition is blank except for an entrance next to the original 1931 building. The entrance consists of a pair of doors.

The facade of the original 1931 building has been obscured by the 1954 addition. The upper level of the facade consists of a bank of windows that opened into the library. However, the windows are currently covered up. The bottom level consists of a metal entrance door with a single window in the top half towards the eastern end. A flat metal awning is located above the door. A single metal-framed, double-hung window with a concrete sill is located to the right of the door. The entire facade is crowned by a projecting overhang.

The east facade of the 1954 addition is blank on the upper level. The lower level is fenestrated by three, evenly-spaced, metal-framed, three-pane windows.

The east facade of the original 1931 building is lined with five banks of windows. Going north to south the groupings consist of three windows, three windows, three windows, three windows, and five windows. Like the windows on the west facade, each window consists of three panes, although the top pane is colored white because of the lowered ceilings inside. The current windows are not original, but the window openings reflect the original size. The window sills consist of a row of rowlock bricks.

The bottom of the brick wall, just above the concrete foundation, is spanned by a row of soldier bricks, and the eave is lined with the exposed rafter tails of the roof structure. Two brick chimneys are present, one between the second and third banks of windows and one between the fourth and fifth banks of windows.

The interior of the building retains its original floor plan from 1931 and the addition retains its original 1954 floor plan. The 1931 portion of the building consists of a central hall with classrooms on each side. Each classroom retains its original coat closet, and although drywall has been placed on the walls, the original bead-board paneling is present underneath.

The layout of the 1954 addition consists of a separate library and girls and faculty restrooms on the upper level along with two additional classrooms and a boys restroom on the lower level.