Lafayette County Training School

c.1930 photograph of the Lafayette County Training School

LAFAYETTE COUNTY TRAINING SCHOOL, STAMPS, LAFAYETTE COUNTY

SUMMARY

ELABORATION

Contrary to common belief, the education of many southern black 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 was also taking place among the children, often without the 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.

In the early years in Lafayette County, school was often taught in churches, including Union Church, C.M.E. Church, Owen Chapel M.E. Church, and the A.M.E. Church.  A. R. Augustus organized the Stamps Public School for blacks in Owen Chapel Church.  A. M. Salone replaced Augustus in 1907, and three years later a two-story school was built with Slater funds and local funds.  W. M. Wilson came in 1912 and served until 1918.  W. D. Hearon followed in 1919 and remained until 1938.  While in Stamps, Hearon was the principal and seventh and eighth grade teacher.  When the Rosenwald building was built, Mrs. Hearon served as fifth and sixth grade teacher.  “Professor” Hearon, as he was called at that time, was highly respected by the community as well as were the other principals who served the community.  His tenure was the longest of those who served.  T. M. Stinnet was the Superintendent during the construction of the Rosenwald School.  He was outstanding in his position of supervising the district.  Later he served in the education field in Washington, D.C., writing several books.  The school board members included H. Briehn, President; J. D. Moore; L. D. Galloway; R. B. McMurrough; and E. P. Terrell.

The Lafayette County Training School, which housed first through eighth grades, was built in 1929 to replace a two-story wood-frame building.  A total of $27,660 was allocated to Arkansas for the 1929-1930 budget year, which allowed the completion of 25 schools, three teachers’ homes, nine vocational shops, and four additions comprising six classrooms.  It provided facilities for a total of 103 teachers and 4,635 students.  Of the 25 schools completed during that period, four of them consisted of six rooms, including the Lafayette County Training School.

The cost to construct the Lafayette County Training School was $16,600, and it was the second most expensive six-room school constructed during the 1929-1930 budget cycle.  (The average cost of construction for a six-room school during the 1929-1930 budget cycle was $14,715.)  Of the $16,600 cost of construction, $1,000 came from black contributions, $13,900 came from public funding, and the Rosenwald Fund gave a grant of $1,700.

In addition to the main building, the Rosenwald Fund also helped to construct a shop building at the Stamps campus.  The shop building was also built in 1929, but was demolished between 1948 and 1950.  The three-room building cost $3,000 to build with $300 coming from black contributions, $2,000 coming from public funding, and $700 coming from the Rosenwald Fund.  It consisted of one oversized classroom for Home Economics; a smaller classroom, an entrance hall, and a shop for agriculture.

The Lafayette County Training School was built using Floor Plan No. 6-A for a “Six Teacher Community School” from Samuel Smith’s Community School Plans.  Smith was the general field agent for the Rosenwald Fund, and he developed a series of floorplans and specifications for a variety of schools that used the most up-to-date innovations in school design.  The detailed blueprints and specifications could be obtained from the Rosenwald Fund through the state’s education office.  Smith felt that having a stock set of blueprints and specifications would allow any community to build a quality school without having to hire an architect, and the school plans turned out to be one of his greatest legacies.

Smith was very concerned with having the maximum amount of natural light get into the classrooms, especially since the rural areas where many of the buildings were built often did not have electricity.  The Lafayette County Training School, as specified in the plans, faces south in order to allow east-west sunlight into the rooms.  East-west sunlight allowed a more comfortable light (as opposed to an all-day exposure to southern sunlight), and also allowed for better ventilation since shades would not be needed to cover the windows all day long.

The interior specifications for the buildings that Smith designed also helped to maximize the use of sunlight.  Specifications required tan shades on the interior, instead of the more traditional green, and preferred that two shades be installed per window, in order to allow more regulation of light.  The schools were also designed so that seating arrangements placed the windows on the children’s left sides so that their writing arms, at least for right-handed students, would not cast shadows on their papers.  Smith’s plans were meant to be simple and efficient, omitting corridors wherever it was possible, and Floor Plan No. 6-A used in Stamps reflects all of Smith’s innovations.

The design chosen for the Lafayette County Training School, like the other school designs that Smith did for the Rosenwald Fund, also incorporates an industrial room.  The inclusion of an industrial room reflected part of Booker T. Washington’s Progressive-era educational philosophy.  It allowed girls to be taught sewing and cooking, and boys to be taught farming and working with tools.

Smith also recognized that school buildings often served as community centers, and he incorporated that ideal into his designs.  He once wrote that, “the best modern school is one which is designed to serve the entire community for twelve months in the year…whenever possible a good auditorium, large enough to seat the entire community, should be erected in connection with every community school.  If there are not sufficient funds for an auditorium, two adjoining classrooms with movable partitions may be made to serve this purpose.”  As a result, all of Smith’s school designs had movable partitions or an auditorium, as at the Lafayette County Training School.

The siting of the building was also considered to be very important, and Smith provided recommendations on that regard.  It was recommended that buildings be built on at least a two-acre site, and be located near a corner of the site.  This allowed enough space for the school, two privies, a teacher’s home, playgrounds for the students, a space for agricultural demonstrations, and proper landscaping.  Although the campus is comprised of three acres, the building is located in the middle of the south side.

The completion of the Lafayette County Training School enabled students in the county to receive education beyond a minimum of reading, writing and arithmetic.  Home economics, agriculture and trades introduction classes became a major part of the preparation for living, working, and a better life as industry continued to displace family and small farms.  In addition to regular classes during the day, after-school programs and adult classes were offered.

Home Economics was included in the curriculum for the first time in 1930, and Miss Doris Raymond was the teacher.  The classroom for Home Economics was an outstanding feature of the floor plan in the Rosenwald building.  Reuben Johnson was the teacher in the shop building. 

Once the facilities at the Lafayette County Training School were improved, more extra-curricular activities could be offered to the students.  Basketball was offered for the first time c.1930, and in the early to mid-1940s Future Homemakers of America (FHA) and Future Farmers of America (FFA) were added.  Further additions in 1951 included, Student Council, Hobby Club, Elocution Club, Library Club, and band and football.

In addition to extra-curricular activities, homeroom teachers in the early years presented various programs during chapel time once per week.  Later years, seasonal or special dramatic programs were presented.  The activities presented at the school auditorium provided the major cultural experience for the community in the years before television and mass transportation in rural communities.

However, it was not just through cultural activities that the community supported the school.  In 1939, the school-lunch program was set up through the aid of a school neighbor, Ora Lee Johnson, who loaned an empty building located across the street for this purpose along with help from a community organization.  The Stamps Civic League and its members individually (referred to as "sub-board of directors" in the black community) were very much involved in school support.  Members of the League at various periods of time included G. W. Hale, John Bagsby, F. D. Woods, Dr. G. A. Ellis, Garland Robinson, Robert McCrae, A. W. Flowers, and A. B. Berry.  The School Board members informed or conferred with the League on matters within the black school community and the League offered help to the school.  Its major project was a log-cabin lunchroom building, located to the northeast of the Rosenwald building, which was used until 1948 or 1949.

The school site is in a residential area within the Brown Addition, originally in a neighborhood of mill and privately owned homes located in the vicinity of Lake June, which was named for T. A. Brown's daughter.  Lake June is a relic of the sawmill era, and is referred to by many county dwellers as “The Pond.”  It is where logs began the process for use as lumber.

The closing of the sawmill along with the Depression kept the school in a slow-growth phase during the 1930s.  However, with the consolidation of schools in the district it remained steady.  In 1936 grades nine and ten were added, and grades eleven and twelve were added in 1937.  Woodsprings School consolidated with the school in 1944, and Buckner consolidated in 1947.  Mr. A. L. Turner was the principal during the period followed by Rev. Leon Harris in 1948.

When the trend to require college preparatory curriculum as well as general or vocational curriculums emerged, this led to the need for a library.  The town’s library at that time was segregated, and many homes were generally bookless.  In the late 1950s, the district remodeled the school’s auditorium into a library.  The effort of providing the first collection of books was by Emma Jones Gallagher, a local teacher.  Donations of books from citizens’ personal collections and a financial donation from E. D. Brown were housed in the auxiliary room.

The Lafayette County Training School building continued to serve the regular school population of blacks until 1969.  It became Ellis Middle School, which was an integrated school, in 1970, and was under the leadership of Roland Piggee until it was closed by the district c.1975. 

In 1978 Kiddy Kollege Day Care was opened in the building by the Stamps Civic League (a reorganized group).  The Board members of the League that were instrumental in making it happen included Rev. Fred Thomas, Emma J. Gallagher, Gracie Green, Robert "Sammie" Brown, Page Tyler, Waver Lee Sanders, Sam Ella Smith, Rev. Charles Buford, Linda Hamilton, Willie F. Jones, and Burton Jacobs.

The northeast room was used as a classroom, the library was used for the infants and toddlers, the southwest classroom was used for the play area, and the science room became the dining room and kitchen.  The county extension agent, Johnnie Dews, and Spencer Knox, Bay Dedner, and the League’s board members were able to meet the deadline despite the fact the building inspector stated, “You will never get this building ready by the deadline and you cannot get those desk arms off those chairs to use at the dining table.”  Robert Brown, the shortest man in the community at the time, did the job in approximately a week’s time.  In addition, the back was fenced in with 80 feet of chain-link fence for an outdoor play area.  Also, Rev. Thomas provided the ramp on the east end of the front porch to provide handicapped accessibility.

An Entergy grant was awarded to the school district in 1999, and some windows were replaced with energy-saving small mock six-pane sashes by Jones Contracting Company.  The ceiling in the original library was also lowered and new lighting fixtures added.  Ceiling fans were added to the two front original classrooms and the original science room.  The small overhead windows on the south were also covered with roofing to cut the heating expense.

Kiddy Kollege Day Care closed in 2003, and the building has remained vacant since.  However, it is hoped that a new use can be found for the building and that it can once again serve the local community.

Schools, especially Rosenwald Schools, were often the centerpieces of a community, and it was no exception in Stamps.  The Lafayette County Training School was the center of life in this part of Lafayette County not only while it was a school, but for several years after.  As the only Rosenwald building remaining in Lafayette County, the Lafayette County Training School is a rare and tangible reminder of the philanthropic legacy of Julius Rosenwald.

SIGNIFICANCE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Albright, Angela K.  “Rosenwald School, Delight, Pike County, Arkansas.”  National Register of Historic Places Registration Form.  From the files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, 1990.

Bobbit, Frank.  How to Make a Curricula.  Unknown publisher, 1924.

Carruth, Gorton.  The Encyclopedia of American Facts and Dates.  Eighth Edition. New York:  Harper & Row Publishers, 1987.

Cole, John D.  Interview. 1981.

The Dragons Second School Reunion Booklet, 1984.
(Lafayette County Training School/Ellis High School Alumni Association)

Harris, Florida.  Correspondence. 1981.

Mansell, Jeff, and Trina Brinkley.  “The Rosenwald School Building Fund and Associated Buildings (1913-1937).”  National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form.  From the files of the Alabama Historical Commission, 1997.

Plat of property (Not Dated).

Porter, David. W.  “A Brief History of the Julius Rosenwald Fund Building Program with Special Reference to Arkansas.”  Unpublished Master’s thesis, Fisk University, Nashville, TN, 1951.

Ward, Glen C.  History of Stamps.  An Undated Compilation in the Stamps Public Library.

Warranty Deed dated March 16, 1908, and recorded July 2, 1919, in Record Book Volume K-4, Page 455 of the records of Lafayette County, Arkansas

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