Union School | |
---|---|
Location | |
corner of North Union and Monroe Streets, Natchez, Mississippi, U.S. | |
Coordinates | 31°33′27″N91°23′33″W / 31.557633°N 91.392517°W |
Information | |
Other names | Natchez Union School, Natchez Union High School [1] |
School type | Public, segregated |
Opened | 1871 |
Closed | circa 1925 |
The Union School in Natchez was the first public, co-educational school by the city for African American students formed in 1871 and closed c. 1925, and was located at the southeast corner of North Union and Monroe Streets in Natchez, Mississippi. [2] [3] [4]
The Union School was established in 1871 as a brick building and it had thirteen rooms which held up to 948 children. [5] The school opened in the fall of 1871, led by Theodore H. Greene and employed 9 black teachers, with the enrollment of 406 students. [6] In 1887, the school was led by principal John S. Meekins, with enrollment of 267 students. [7] By 1909, the school had enrollment of 1,175 students. [8] In 1924, the lower grade levels had as many as 120 students in a single classroom, which prompted the school board to plea with the mayor to make changes. [5] [9]
In 1925, the Brumfield High School, another African American public school in Natchez, was built to alleviate the overcrowding. [5] [9] The school namesake was George Washington Brumfield (1866–1927) who had taught classes at the Union School and served as a principal, after his arrival to Natchez in the 1890s. [9] [10] Brumfield also served as the Sunday school teacher at Zion Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church (Zion Chapel AME Church). [9]
The Union School operated during a period of racial segregation in Mississippi. The Natchez Institute was the first public school by the city for white-only students, established in 1845. [11] By 1950s, the Union School building was demolished. The school is included in the "African American Public Education, Natchez Trails" historical marker at its former site.
Natchez, officially the City of Natchez, is the only city in and the county seat of Adams County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 14,520 at the 2020 census. Located on the Mississippi River across from Vidalia in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, Natchez was a prominent city in the antebellum years, a center of cotton planters and Mississippi River trade.
Vicksburg is a historic city in Warren County, Mississippi, United States. It is the county seat. The population was 21,573 at the 2020 census. Located on a high bluff on the east bank of the Mississippi River across from Louisiana, Vicksburg was built by French colonists in 1719. The outpost withstood an attack from the native Natchez people. It was incorporated as Vicksburg in 1825 after Methodist missionary Newitt Vick. The area that is now Vicksburg was long occupied by the Natchez Native Americans as part of their historical territory along the Mississippi. The first Europeans who settled the area were French colonists who built Fort Saint Pierre in 1719 on the high bluffs overlooking the Yazoo River at present-day Redwood. They conducted fur trading with the Natchez and others, and started plantations. During the American Civil War, it was a key Confederate river-port, and its July 1863 surrender to Ulysses S. Grant, along with the concurrent Battle of Gettysburg, marked the turning-point of the war.
Alcorn State University is a public historically black land-grant university adjacent to Lorman, Mississippi. It was founded in 1871 and was the first black land grant college established in the United States. The university is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
Jackson State University is a public historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is one of the largest HBCUs in the United States and the fourth largest university in Mississippi in terms of student enrollment. The university is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".
Jefferson College, in Washington, Mississippi, at 16 Old North Street. Named in honor of Thomas Jefferson, the college was chartered in 1802, but did not begin operation until 1811. Jefferson College was founded as an all-male college but operated primarily as a college-preparatory school, and later became a military boarding school, which it remained for most of its history.
Tougaloo College is a private historically black college in the Tougaloo area of Jackson, Mississippi, United States. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and Christian Church. It was originally established in 1869 by New York–based Christian missionaries for the education of freed slaves and their offspring. From 1871 until 1892 the college served as a teachers' training school funded by the state of Mississippi. In 1998, the buildings of the old campus were added to the National Register of Historic Places. Tougaloo College has a rich history of civic and social activism, including the Tougaloo Nine.
John Curtis Kyle was an American attorney and Democratic politician from Mississippi during the late 19th century. He was most notable for his service as mayor of Sardis, Mississippi (1879-1881), a member of the Mississippi State Senate (1881-1885), member of the Mississippi Railroad Commission (1886-1890) and member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1891-1897).
Natchez High School is a public school in Natchez, Mississippi (USA). It is part of the Natchez-Adams School District and serves students in grades nine through twelve.
The Diocese of Natchez was a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church; it was the predecessor of the Diocese of Jackson. It served all of Mississippi until the state was split into two dioceses, Jackson and Biloxi.
More than 1,500 African American officeholders served during the Reconstruction era (1865–1877) and in the years after Reconstruction before white supremacy, disenfranchisement, and the Democratic Party fully reasserted control in Southern states. Historian Canter Brown Jr. noted that in some states, such as Florida, the highest number of African Americans were elected or appointed to offices after the end of Reconstruction in 1877. The following is a partial list of notable African American officeholders from the end of the Civil War until before 1900. Dates listed are the year that a term states or the range of years served if multiple terms.
Trinity Episcopal Day School was a private school located in Natchez, Mississippi, United States, with students in preschool through twelfth grade. Trinity Episcopal was accredited by the Mississippi State Department of Education, the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools, and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Athletic teams carried the nickname of Saints, and the school colors were red, white, and black.
Inman E. Page was a Baptist leader and educator in Oklahoma and Missouri. He was president of four schools: the Lincoln Institute, Langston University, Western University, and Roger Williams University and principal of Douglass High School in Oklahoma City. He and George Milford were the first black students at Brown University.
Robert H. Wood was an African American 19th-century politician, postmaster, and sheriff. He served as the first African American Mayor of Natchez, Mississippi from 1870 until 1871, and was part of the Adams County Board of Supervisors from 1871 to 1872. He was one of only five black mayors in the American South during the Reconstruction-era; and is thought to be the first black mayor in the United States.
Rev. John E. Price was an elder and minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. He was a minister for around 50 years. He was the founder and president of the Garnet Equal Rights League at Harrisburg. He wrote hymns and was an editor for the Zion Church Advocate and, with William H. Day, the Zion Church Herald and Outlook, the first paper of the AME Zion Church. Day was a minister, abolitionist, and educator.
Laurens T. Kennedy was a Democratic member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, representing Adams County, from 1918 to his death in 1935.
McCron Avondale Cook Hussey was an American politician from Natchez, Mississippi.
George F. Bowles was a lawyer, militia colonel, chief of police and state legislator in Mississippi.
George Morris Philips was an American educator and academic administrator who was the longest-serving principal of West Chester State Normal School from 1881 to 1920. A professor of mathematics who taught at West Chester and Bucknell University, Philips also authored several textbooks, rewrote Pennsylvania's school code, and served as president of the Chester County Historical Society.
The Natchez Institute was a segregated K-12 public school "for whites-only" established in 1845 and closed in ? in Natchez, Mississippi. It was the first public, co-educational school in the city that offered a full course of classes. It is listed as a Mississippi Landmark since June 20, 1985.
Brumfield High School, formerly G. W.Brumfield School, was a segregated public high school for African American students built in 1925 and closed in 1990; located in Natchez, Mississippi.
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: CS1 maint: others (link)G. W. Brumfield, principal