History of Poplar Hill School
Welcome to the story of the Poplar Hill School, this is the newest landmark on the map of the National Park Service. The school sits on the side of Poplar Hill Road in Jefferson County, Mississippi. Adding to America’s historic landscape, Poplar Hill School is a place that will tell the story of the rich history of the African American rural education experience. P
oplar Hill School stood during reconstruction, it stood during the depression, it stood during Jim Crow, it was there during two world wars and continued until consolidation (1957 Board of Education vs. A school that was founded by individuals whose hope for the future never imagined its current honor. Public education in Mississippi started in about 1821 by an act of the Mississippi legislature (called the Literacy Fund). It provided school tuition for indigent children. However this was only for those children of the white race. Public education for African American children in Mississippi was not available until after 1868 when Mississippi adopted Article VIII, Section 1-9 establishing “a uniform system of free public schools, by taxation or otherwise, for all children between the ages of five and twenty-one years…” In 1870 legislation was passed to create county school districts along with county superintendents of education. Revenue raised by the sale or lease of 16th Section lands[1] was the funding source for the county schools. One more additional source of school funding that existed was a poll tax[2] of two dollars per person. It was levied for the specific use of public education. With white control of predominantly black counties, much of the monies earmarked for the African American schools was diverted to the white schools. This created a “double tax” for those in the African American community who first had to pay the poll tax and then had to raise additional monies to support their schools. The land on which Poplar Hill School was built is 16th Section Land. Poplar Hill Plantation encompassed an area of approximately 500 acres. Within that acreage was 16th Section property. In 1867 Medora Dubs Scott Butler gave the use of the 16th Section land to the African Church. In her last will and testament which was written on the day she died, April 29, 1868, she wrote “It is my wish that the four acres of land given to the African Church by me shall belong to them as long as the same is used for the purpose of a church site.” African American rural churches post civil war often established and built their own schools primarily for the children of the church and surrounding communities. Those who established this school in about 1880 were strongly committed individuals who were born on the local plantations. Some had lived through slavery, but all understood the importance of an education. These men and women of Poplar Hill were willing to give to their future generations; the opportunity denied them through the bo***ge of slavery. They were firm in their commitment to a good fundamental education that did not consider failure as an option. The first school building built by Poplar Hill African Methodist Episcopal Church was in about 1895. During the early years (1880 – 1894) classes were taught inside the church building. There is no record of exactly what happened to the first school. It was replaced by the current structure in about 1923. The school is located about 4.5 miles from the county seat of Fayette, Mississippi. The building is a one-story frame building with a side-gable metal roof. A 897 square foot two room schoolhouse, with a wooden room divider that folded back when not in use. With the room divider in place one side served grades first through fourth grades and on the other side grades fifth through eighth. Once the folding wall was pulled back the school was used for graduations, recitals, social and community events, and church events. A single pot- belly, wood-burning stove heated the entire room. Former students explained how the boys were responsible for bringing in the wood. Not only did they carry in the wood they chopped it; students hoped they would find a fallen old dead dried tree that had broken into smaller pieces in its fall. Though no longer on the property, vivid memories were recalled about the outhouses. There were two outhouses one for the girls the other for the boys. The girls’ outhouse was behind the northeast corner of the building and the boy’s facility was down the hill in front of the schoolhouse on the same side. During the winter months without heat in the outhouses, it was a sprint to the outhouse and a sprint back. Just after the school was built in 1923 the school became eligible for the [3]Rosenwald Fund. This was an exciting time because the Rosenwald Fund would make it possible to bring improvements to the existing facility. The administrators of the school had complied with all the funding requirements. According to the Fisk University Rosenwald Fund Card File Database, Poplar Hill was identified to receive a grant of $700 from the fund in 1923-24. In addition to the $700 from the Rosenwald fund, there were contributions from Negroes: $733.00, Whites: $325.00, and the Public: $215.00 for a total budget of $1,973. The joy of that moment was short lived. By 1925 the additional funds from the Rosenwald Fund had vanished. The state superintendent of rural Negro schools had embezzled not only the funds of Poplar Hill but the funding of several rural Negro schools. Jennifer Baughn of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in her online article “Rosenwald Schools in Mississippi” wrote: “In addition to the known Rosenwald schools, Mississippi has some “ghost schools,” a group of schools that were supposed to have received Rosenwald Funds but the money was fraudulently diverted for personal use between1923-1928. The Rosenwald agent at the Mississippi Department of Education, Bura Hilbun, who was responsible for overseeing the Rosenwald Fund in Mississippi and sending in final reports to the Nashville office, was later found to have falsified records and pocketed the money meant for certain schools. Hilbun’s fraud was found after he left the education department. He was convicted of embezzlement in 1931 in the Hinds County Circuit Court, after two hung juries. Hilbun appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court but it upheld the lower court’s decision. As a result of Hilbun’s falsified records, the historical records of the Rosenwald Fund at Fisk University Archives in Nashville list some schools that were not actually built, thus the “ghost schools.” One of those ghost schools has survived. Poplar Hill School is a rare two-classroom black school in rural Jefferson County, and while the school appears in the Rosenwald Fund database on the Fisk website, it is not, in fact, a Rosenwald plan and did not receive any Rosenwald funding. This was distressing news to a group of interested alumni who in 2009 pursued a National Register of Historic Places listing for the building as a Rosenwald school. Nonetheless, the building is still significant as a rare surviving rural African-American school, once one of thousands that dotted the Mississippi landscape.” (Online article by: Jennifer Baughn of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.) In our application to the National Park Service division of the Department of Interior a description was found at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. “The school building was described in a 1955 county-wide school survey conducted by the Department of Educational Administration at the Mississippi Southern College (now University of Southern Mississippi):
“Poplar Hill is a two-teacher school teaching grades 1 through 8 for eight months. The average daily attendance for 1953-54 was 65. This building is frame type construction in poor condition. It was painted yellow at one time. It has a metal roof which leaks. The windows are small and inadequate and some of the panes are out. The walls are wide planks in poor condition, but were painted at one time. The building is heated by a wood stove in poor condition. There is one light in each room. The furniture is homemade benches in poor condition (pp. 65, 67).”
“The 1955 county school survey identified twenty-eight schools for black students, of which 10 were privately owned (usually by churches) and 18 publicly owned (p. 53). A survey of historic schools conducted by Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History architectural historians from 1999-2004 found that of this number, only four rural schools still stood. Only two of those remaining seem to have any hope of survival, the other two being overgrown and long abandoned. Forty Hills School, a one-classroom school also located near a church, seems to be maintained and cared for and is also eligible for the National Register (presuming that its interior is intact). Given the once ubiquitous nature of these small rural schools, and their present extreme rarity, the survival of two buildings in the same county is a condition almost unknown in the state.” (Documented by: Mississippi Department Archives and History, Jackson, MS.) Teachers of Poplar Hill
The first teacher at Poplar Hill understood that without an education, these children, who were born into poverty and harsh conditions, would have a very difficult future. Elvira Ellis Jackson was a very prim and proper Christian, bible reading (everyday) a very fastidious women. Elvira married Fielding Jackson on March 28, 1877 she became a widow by about 1890; and was like many women of today, a single parent raising seven children on her own. She was the first documented certified teacher at Poplar Hill. Former students remembered her as tough, forthright, and a disciplinarian who had no time for nonsense. She not only taught school, she also farmed, was a church-going woman, a seamstress, and had opinions that carried weight within the Poplar Hill Community. Issues of community governance were often asked of her and she never held her thoughts to herself according to her granddaughter, Regina Jackson Ellis. She remained active in community and church events, and kept house until her death in 1925. Through personal interviews and some local records we have found the following teachers who taught at Poplar Hill. They include:
Mrs. Elvira Ellis Jackson began teaching in the church building in 1880, at the first school building from 1895 until 1922, then in the existing school building from 1923 - 1924. Henrietta Jackson (daughter of Elvira) taught from 1895 – 1923: new building 1923 - 1940
Mrs. Rebecca “Betty” Jackson Jones (abt. 1923 – 1929)
Ms. Henrietta Jackson Smith about (abt. 1932 –1940)
Mrs. Mattie Milton (abt. 1937-1940)
Ms. Lethie Green (early 1940s)
Ms. Bessie Lyas Kates (abt. 1941 – 1945)
Ms. Virginia Roanne Thomas (abt. 1942- 1946)
Ms. Lula Bell Jackson (1942 – 1943) (1945 – 1946)
Ms. Alma Page (abt. 1944 – 1946)
Ms. Ruth Hall (1944 – 1946)
Mrs. Sarah Hall Jackson (1948 – 1949)
Ms. Helen Riley (c. 1950)
Ms. Thelma Jackson (c. 1950)
Ms. Mildred Turner (c. 1953)
Ms. Sadie Fells (c. 1953)
Ms. Hattie Belle Haley (1950’s)
Ms. Naomi Hill (unknown)
In an interview, Sarah Hall Jackson, a former teacher of Poplar Hill School said that when she arrived in 1948 at the school there were no blackboards and very few school supplies. Books for each student in the rural black schools were not provided until the 6th grade. African American students had to pay to use the used text books which had come from the white schools in the area. Several students who attended Poplar Hill have said that the books they received were damaged but the damage was not noted at the time of payment. Once the book was returned to the school a fee was assessed for the damage. In another interview with a former teacher of Poplar Hill School she described the subjects that were taught as: citizenship, mathematics, English, literature, history, and science. Poplar Hill School was a special place for all who attended and taught there. Many teachers started their careers in education teaching in these rural schools that dotted the landscape of the south. Often these men and women were still attending college but this was an opportunity to learn and hone their teaching skills. Poplar Hill School survived the wrath of time, weather, economic hardship, and history. This African American school reminds us of the courage, endurance, and achievements of those who were thought to not be worthy of a quality education. We are grateful to those who conceived, built, funded, supported, and staffed this school. We can now feel confident that Poplar Hill School will not be forgotten and its future secure knowing it is on the National Register of Historic Places.
[1] 16th Section lands: The Land Ordinance of 1785 established the practice of setting aside section number 16 in each township for the maintenance of public schools. The United States Congress established the Mississippi Territory in 1798. In 1803, Congress enacted laws providing for the sale of all land south of the State of Tennessee, and made provision for the reservation of Section Sixteen in each township for the support of public schools. Congressional action granting statehood to Mississippi in 1817 also called for the survey of land in the state and further provided for the reservation of Section Sixteen in each township for the support of public schools. Sixteenth Section Land is also known as Public School Trust Land.
[2] When the Constitution was written, only white male property owners (about 10 to 16 percent of the nation's population) had the vote. Over the past two centuries, though, the term "government by the people" has become a reality. During the early 1800s, states gradually dropped property requirements for voting. Later, groups that had been excluded previously gained the right to vote. Other reforms made the process fairer and easier.
1870 The 15th Amendment is passed. It gives former slaves the right to vote and protects the voting rights of adult male citizens of any race.
1890 Mississippi adopts a literacy test to keep African Americans from voting. Numerous other states—not just in the south—also establish literacy tests. However, the tests also exclude many whites from voting. To get around this, states add grandfather clauses that allow those who could vote before 1870, or their descendants, to vote regardless of literacy or tax qualifications. http://www.infoplease.com/timelines/voting.html
[3] Julius Rosenwald (August 12, 1862 – January 6, 1932) was a U.S. clothier, manufacturer, business executive, and philanthropist. He is best known as a part-owner and leader of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and for the Rosenwald Fund which donated millions to support the education of African American children in the rural South, as well as other philanthropic causes in the first half of the 20th century. He was also the principal founder and backer for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, to which he gave more than $5 million and served as President from 1927 to1932. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Rosenwald
(compiled by Stewart Research copyrighted material)
