Black Education in Hammond Schools

Amite Color School' Class of 1946"

There were several developmental stages in the evolution of the schools in the Hammond area. There were houses schools with were held in homes as the names indicate. There were church schools. And there were public schools which are direct precursors of our present schools.

House schools were usually taught by the lady of the house. The students learned to read and write, and to do arithmetic. Parents who could afford the monetary burden paid the teacher twenty-five cent a month for their children to attend school. Other parents who were less fortunate bartered produce from their gardens and their personal services as payment to the teacher for teaching their children, 

Mrs. Chlora Andrews Bickham, Mrs. Meryl Woods, and Mrs. Simpson were some of the teachers who taught in their homes during that period. Later, as the name of students grew, churches opened their doors to accommodate the increase. In most cases, one teacher taught all levels of learning, from beginners to the advanced students. St. James AME Church was one of the churches in which a school was housed.

During the winter months, fathers provided firewood for the church schools, probably as a sense of duty rather than as a means of paying for the services of the teachers. Some black students went to a three-room school across the street from where Eastside school is presently located. Not much is known about that school but, significantly, it was located on that site.

Hammond Colored School which was located onto north/east conmen of where Hammond Middle School is presently located. The building was given to the black community after the whites moved into a new school building which was constructed for them. The old two-story building is which the black children moved was in severe disrepair but the black people was glad to get it. They immediately began to repair it. Details on how the building came into the possession of the blacks are not yet known, but considering the times, that Black Elders of the community had to bargain rather shrewdly with the white power structure for it.

Greenville Park High School was built under the leadership of Mr. J. W. Davis. He worked with the PTA to raise money to purchase the land for the new high school and gymnasium. People in the community had fundraising activities; the local black farmers donated so many crates of strawberries each year; teachers donated parts of their salaries were some of the means by which funds were obtained to purchases land for the high school and gymnasium.

Some of the principals who served in school that were the forerunners to Greenville Park High School were: Professor Tinnier, Professor DeNoah, Professor Martin, Professor Snaudgress, Mrs. Minnie L. Barksdale, Professor Holland, Mrs. Purnell, Mr. Willie Price, Sr., Mr. Willie Price, Jr., Mr. J. W. Davis, Sr., Mr. Manley Youngsblood, and Mr. Samuel Richardson.

Other Principals in the Hammond area were: the Reverend Mr. Albert C. Evans, Mr. Eddie Robinson, Mr. Roudolph P. Gibson, and Mrs. Lillie. 

Reprint from the files of the late Dr. Kingsley B. Garrison

A.M. Strange One of the Greatest Educational Leaders in Louisiana & Mississippi

A.M. Strange given name, Armstead Mitchell Strange was born on Oct 14,  1884, in Waterproof, LA.,  to Tillman Benjamin Strange and   Millie Hunter Strange.  His father Tillman was born in 1860 during slavery and died Jan 1927.  He was one of seventeen children some of his siblings in the 1900 U.S. census were: William, Ella, Bessie, Bula, Luther, Etta Lee, Gladys A, Mabel M, Leman L,  and Richelieu E. Strange. Armstead M. Strange was living in Collins Ward 6, in Covington, Mississippi on Bryan Avene. He was married to Henryene Strange. His occupation was teaching. He owned his own home in 1910.  A  young girl named Rosa Taylor and his sister Ella Strange were living in the house with  him and his wife. His brother Tillman ( Tilghman)  was born 1883. and moved to Chicago and became a physician. He died in 1920 at the age of 37 years old. He was buried in Lincoln Cemetery. One of his other brothers named Williams M. Strange, died in Chicago as well on Dec 1, 1932, by occupation he was a Postal worker.

Ten years later he and wife Henryene were living in Tupelo, Mississippi. On the 1930 and 1940 censuses, he was listed as mulatto. In 1930, they were still living in Tupelo, Mississippi, he had become the Superintendent of the school.  Living in the home with him and his wife: Lehman,  Riechilen, Truman and, Mabel Strange.

Prentiss Institute Rosenwald School, Prentiss, Jefferson Davis County

By 1940, Armstead and his wife were living in Chickasaw, Mississippi. He was teaching at Okolona Industrial School for the Colored. He  completed four years of college. Living in the house with him, where Majorie and Mary James Strange. A man named Frank Taylor was  79 years of age lived in the house as well.

He received his elementary education at Waterproof while his college studies were done at Alcorn College, where he finished in 1902. He was admitted as a freshman in the fall and completed his college work with the Bachelor of Science Degree. A.M. Strange came to Tangipahoa Parish via Collins, Miss.  He was one of the first of his family to earn an educational diploma, and he was instrumental in seeing to it that his brothers and sister did likewise. He is remembered as one with a very stern personality and believed in earning one's way. One family member recalled going to live with him in order to attend school and was greeted with, " Get a broom and start sweeping."

The school for blacks in Kentwood struggle along unto the fall of 1910. This is the year that Mr. Strange, who was principal at Collins, joined several local white businessmen, who donated money. Constructed Kentwood Industrial School for blacks. Mr. Strange raised the money, purchased the land, and erected the buildings, one of which was named for him.

The scholastic year 1911-12, marked the beginning of the County Training School Movement as far the Slater Fund is concerned. Professor A.M. Strange wrote to Dr. James H. Dillard, general agent for the John F. Slater Fund (a philanthropic fund for the advancement of Negro education), soliciting aid for a black school that would be located in Kentwood, Louisiana. Professor Strange established  Kentwood first County Training School for Negroes. After starting several such schools in both states, he labored for fifteen years at Tupelo, Mississippi.

He was elected to head the Coahoma County Agricultural High School in Clarkdale, Miss., which he did for one year.  In 1933 he was named the president of Okolona Industrial School, an American Church Institute School which he improved into a junior college. When he left to become president of the Ministerial Institute and College at West Point, Miss., where he built up a dilapidates school into a solid institution.

Several of my own family members attended the school. My uncle Jasper Harrell, Sr., and his brother Roosevelt Harrell, Sr. are two of my direct lineage that traveled from Amite to Kentwood to go to school. President A.M. Strange, who has served as president and principal of several Negro schools and colleges, died July 7th, at the age of 59. His funeral was held at Tupelo Baptist church with all the Negro ministers of the community officiating, assisted by Dr. Charles G. Hamilton of Aberdeen, his rector. President Strange was one of the great educational leaders of his people.  He started the first Rosenwald School in Jefferson Davis County, Mississippi.

Professor Strange rendered distinguished service to Negro education. His legacy and service rendered should never be forgotten in the African American communities.  He left a monument in many institutions of learning and religion, but even more in the hearts of all who knew him.

I would like to thank my colleague Leonard Smith III for all the research he found on Professor Strange.  Leonard found his name and other records that were vital to this blog post.

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

Genealogist/Family Historian: Leonard Smith III

http://www.ls3studios.com

Death Notice, August 22, 1943

http://usslave.blogspot.com/2011/10/mississippis-roesnwald-schools.html

Souvenir Program " Tangipahoa Parish Training School Dillon Memorial High School, School Reunion 1911-1969

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