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"It was important to save this building for the sake of the younger people, so that our heritage won't die."
That was the sentiment among the Langston High School alumni, who visited the former Booker T. Washington Elementary School in Jonesborough, Tennessee during an alumni reunion tour on Saturday, July 5, 2014.
Originally opened as an African-American school in 1939, the renovated building how houses the McKinney Cultural Center, dedicated to providing affordable arts education to the people of Jonesborough and Washington County.
The school closed in 1965, when integration required its African-American children to be assimilated into the surrounding white schools in Washington County. Many thought its history would die, when the doors closed for the final time.
For just a minute, let's go back to the days of the Booker T. Washington School. Back in the 1940's. Grades 1 through 9. Days when grade school students like Mary Catherine (Rhea) Williams went to class through the halls and auditorium of the school.
"Just being in here, brings back so many memories," she says. "I was in so many plays on this stage. In one of them, I was a daffodil.. I had my little flower hat, and my little face with petals. There were so many people in the audience, parents, neighbors, teachers."
The only thing she remembers fully, is how she felt on that stage that night.
"Scared to death," she laughed. "Really afraid when I first started. I was glad when it was over."
"We had more plays every year after that before the school closed," she said. "I remember a boy by the name of William Edwards.. he sung 'You'll Never Walk Alone' from this stage. He sang that song and it has stuck in my mind all these years. I can see him standing there."
"I think he's left us now."
Other memories came flooding back for the former student, whose aunt and uncle both served as principals at Booker T. Washington Elementary.
"This auditorium was also the gym where the basketball games were played," she remembers. "For auditorium things, Miss Brown would be down there banging on the piano. They also used to have dances in here.. my daddy used to call the square dances in here. Just like many black schools, this was the center of the community's activities. I used to walk to this school from Depot Street. For a little child, it was a long way, even on a good day. When it was raining, Mama would call a cab to bring us.. some of the kids did not have that luxury."
""It was important to save this building for the sake of the younger people," she says. "They can look at this building now and say, 'my grandmother, my family all went there. We're losing that heritage, and if the young people don't pick it up, it'll be lost forever. A lot of them don't want to hear it.. you start talking about it and they don't want to here about it..'oh that was a long time ago.' But it really is a part of their history, the most important part because this was a school."
"It's part of THEM."
"This building deserves special recognition," says center director Theresa Hammons. "People who went to this school have an unbreakable tie to this building. There's an attachment to it that is unmistakeble. We want to honor that connection. It's important to keep that connection alive so that people keep their investment. A successful place needs to be kept successful. It helps in our quality of life and our economic environment.
Center Director Hammons has worked in museum settings the past 20 years. "The concept for the renovation of the Washington School is a culmination of the original educational purpose for the building.. preserving that history through the idea of a museum," she says.
"In October of next year, we'll be working with the Washington alumni on a big reunion," Hammons says. "Meetings are being held right now in the planning stages for that commemoration. Also next year, we're planning an event we're calling 'Mrs. Brown's End of the Year Program,' in honor of Mrs. Brown that Mrs. Williams was telling you about. Many of the alumn i collected their stories of when they were here, and they're planning a performance of poetry they read, songs they sang and dances they did when they were in school."
"We want to make sure our doors are always open to alumni and the people of Jonesborough, who approved the renovation here," she says.
"We were thrilled when we received the grant to save the Booker T. Washington School building," she says. "Much like Langston, it was just a storage building.. falling in from neglect. I'm hoping that we'll be able to save Langston, too. Look at what they did in Kingsport and Bristol and Rogersville and the other cities with black schools. It can be done, but not without a lot of 'greenbacks' and interest from the community."
"It'll take a lot of effort, but just like here at Booker T. Washington... it will be worth it."
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