♪ Elkton Colored School ♪ ♪ A promise to keep ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Children with dreams in a world so divided ♪ ♪ through the Blackboards and Barriers ♪ ♪ their hopes never subsided.

♪ ♪ Blackboards and Barriers, stories untold ♪ ♪ In the halls of Elkton, brave hearts unfold ♪ ♪ From segregation's shadow to freedom's bright light ♪ ♪ They walk through the darkness ♪ ♪ Now standing in the fight ♪ ♪ Books in their hands and fire in their eyes ♪ [Eerie music plays] NARRATOR: In the wake of the Civil War, a nation stood on the precipice of transformation, even though there was still conflict and the echoes of emancipation.

Hope emerged for millions of newly freed African Americans.

The Freedmen's Bureau provided the distribution of food and clothing to the provision of legal assistance and educational opportunities.

NARRATOR: The Bureau became a lifeline for countless individuals, grappling with the challenges of newfound freedom.

Most notably, the Bureau spearheaded efforts to establish schools for freed African Americans, recognizing education as the cornerstone of empowerment and self-determination.

NARRATOR: Moving up in time, by 1912, Julius Rosenwald, a visionary philanthropist who saw education as the key to unlocking the shackles of injustice, donated money to help build African American schools.

This allowed Black students to move into buildings designed to be schools, instead of learning in homes or churches.

These schools were often the first purpose-built school buildings in Black communities.

They helped improve education across the South.

NARRATOR: From rural towns to bustling cities, Rosenwald's generosity knew no bounds.

Working in collaboration with Booker T. Washington and other African American educators and community leaders, he established a groundbreaking partnership that would come to be known as the Rosenwald Schools Initiative.

KYLE DIXON: The idea of this agency is that they would help build schools for um formerly enslaved and African American children in the Southern states, and that includes Maryland and Cecil County.

NARRATOR: Another major problem that took place in the South began when freed slaves were suddenly faced with the issue of becoming self-sustaining.

In the American South, there were 9 million Blacks who were economically insecure.

Though in the South, as everywhere, the Blacks found themselves on the lowest of all income levels, the Black race has made a brave struggle to better its luck.

Since slavery was abolished, Black illiteracy has rapidly decreased, and today, the Black population has had some form of schooling.

[Rustling of papers] KYLE: So we have um some maps here dating as far back from 1887, going up to 1962.

And, it says here that this building is- has electricity.

So, probably using the Rosenwald funds, the building was rewired to have electricity.

And then it also mentions that there is still heating in this building.

It doesn't mention anything about stove heating, but it does say that there is heating here nonetheless.

NARRATOR: The Elkton Colored School from its earliest days served a dual purpose.

It was both an elementary and high school, teaching students from 1st grade through 12th grade.

In 1944, the Colored School name was changed to the George Washington Carver School and in 1954 the new school was built.

Locals within the community were reluctant to adopt the name George Washington Carver and still refer to it as the Elkton Colored School.

[Jazzy music] DAN GRIFFIN: People believed that that was the only elementary school in Cecil County, that Black kids were all central there in the county seat of Elkton.

But I want you to know that there were a lot more Black kids coming out of Port Deposit, uh Rising Sun, Conowingo, um, Colora, Maryland, and we came on a bus.

But we didn't go to that school per se in elementary school.

We went to elementary school in our hometowns of Port Deposit.

PAULINE KEMP: We didn't have Port Deposit, and all of that around.

They come into our school.

So it was, it really amazed me that, to know that these Black kids had to pay to ride to school.

DAN: And the other kids, down in the south part of Cecil County, or farther to the Eastern Shore in Cecilton, and in Chesapeake City, went to the school in Cecilton, Maryland.

Elkton became important to these areas only when the kids had to go to high school.

NARRATOR: The Cedar Hill School was built on February 11th, 1871.

The one room school served generations of African American children from the Cedar Hill community and by 1948 the Board of Education reported that the building, which had served it's purpose well should be closed because of its physical condition.

Soon there after, the building that had been a proud part of the small community closed and the children were transported to George Washington Carver School in Elkton.

VIOLA WRIGHT: We had to walk from our house from 976 Warburton Road out to Blue Ball Road to catch the bus.

If the weather got real bad, they didn't come down Blue Ball Road.

They stopped up at Hilltop Road, so that meant we had to walk up there and catch the bus.

And then, we were brought down here to George Washington Carver High School.

I graduated from the nursing school in Philadelphia in 19...53.

NARRATOR: Black nurses were forced to attend separate less prestigious training programs often with fewer resources.

Despite these obstacles, many women like Viola Wright found ways to become skilled practitioners serving their communities.

VIOLA: And at that time, Doctor Johnson, James L. Johnson was the first colored doctor in Elkton, Maryland.

He heard that I had finished nursing and I was at home.

NARRATOR: Doctor James Johnson stood as a pillar of strength and service in Cecil County: A man whose dedication to medicine transcended the racial barriers of his time.

As the only Black doctor in the county, he carried a responsibility far greater than most providing care not just to the Black community, but to white patients as well in an era when segregation and racial prejudice were deeply ingrained in society.

VIOLA: He wanted to see me, so I went and he interviewed me and said right then you got the job.

You will be working evening shift.

And from there I stayed with Doctor Johnson until 1965 when I got married.

WOMAN: [Singing] And the best years you've ever had.

God bless you!

[Clapping] [Group singing and clapping Happy Birthday] VIOLA: So I'm thanking, and praising the good master first for all that he's done for me, and all that he is going to do for the rest of my days.

CROWD: Amen.

VIOLA: So after all of that I want to thank everyone for coming and may God bless all of you.

[Applause] RAYLAINA HAMMOND: So Aunt Vi as a former student of the colored schools impacted us in so many ways.

It allowed us to strive for excellence.

We know that we have to be the best that we could be.

CAROLYN HAMMOND CLAYTON: I think of the resilience she had to have back then, um in the 50s and everything that was going on at that time and to just be able to get through school and become the nurse to the first Black doctor in Elkton who was my doctor.

Um, I remember Doctor Johnson fondly um, its just a wonderful thing and um you know just to see that she could do it just let's us know that we could too.

BARBARA FORTE: My favorite teacher was Miss Bessicks.

She used to have me come over and do little work for her, and of course you know she was our ballet teacher, our dance teacher and all, so we were in her classes, we were in dancing classes and stuff.

BETTY SEWELL: Mr. Caldwell was the principal of Carver High School.

Man, he was nice, but he didn't fool with you.

He would tickle me he would go when he was talking to you he got the stuttering.

[Stutters] But he, he was something else that man was.

NARRATOR: The Providence Methodist Church is a place of worship, history, and memories.

Today, Barbara returns to a place that unexpectedly shaped her early years.

Barbara attended the fifth and sixth grades in this very church.

Not as part of its congregation, but as a student.

BARBARA: This is, we've come here years and years and years ago, and we end up having my little school here in the back.

And they had them, little desks.

If you looked at it now you think that uh, you never, this could never of happened but it did, it did.

And then we, we learned just like to children at the other places.

If you wanted to learn you could learn-- if you didn't, well, that was your problem, but it wasn't because the teacher didn't teach you.

♪♪ DAN GRIFFIN: In 1946 to 1952, when I was a kid and I attended the Port Deposit Colored Elementary School, I had to come up a hill.

We had the dirt in the ground like there is the other exit to the, to the basement right there.

Again, this idea having to walk up and down this hill, I mean the more I think about it, I don't even know how we did it [laughs].

Uh... [Scoffs] That's something to think about.

Yep, I don't even think I can walk up this hill now, I really don't.

But we came up this hill for six years.

Oh man!

Again you can see the windows they had.

I don't know why the windows were so big.

But you can see the first, second, and the fourth and fifth grade windows I mean fifth and sixth grade windows there and that little window was for the closet where we kept our coats.

Ah, man!

NARRATOR: Evelyn Jordan was one of the first African American students who graduated from Elkton Colored School and became a teacher.

When she started teaching, there was still segregation, and she became one of the first teachers to teach at a desegregated school after segregation ended.

EVELYN JORDAN: And I got, I got a job.

I worked at Cecilton until they integrated the schools.

And then when they integrated the schools, I was sent to uh Bayview Elementary.

And I had, one little Black boy in my class.

The rest of them were white.

GEORGE WHISNER: When I met Ms. Jordan here is someone who has had, you know an incredible life experience and has had an incredible impact on the community.

[Applause] EVELYN: Good morning everyone I am just elated as- that Bainbridge Elementary has chosen me or chosen to give an award in remembrance of the work that I have done in Cecil County.

I worked in Cecil County for 38 years as a teacher and a principal and I enjoyed every bit of it.

And there are students here that I have taught, one in 3rd grade graduated from college and hired her back here at Bainbridge Elementary.

[Applause] GEORGE: Once it was decided kind of what the award was going to be, it was like, "Well, what do we call it" and you know we wanted to... Do we get creative with it?

And quite honestly, it came down to, let's call it what it is, it's the Evelyn- Evelyn Jordan Award for Perseverance.

EVELYN: We knew we had to teach but then again we put ourselves in it and did what you thought was best for your children.

You know?

You might read do the history that was in front of you, but you intermingled.

You know?

And we showed through our experiences what kids needed to be like.

You can't believe everything that's in those books.

You know?

And you didn't see a book with a Black kid in it.

They were all white.

DAN: No, you never really did.

EVELYN: My job was to teach them those words and let them be able to read them.

And they learned, you know?

So you know I was blessed, I was blessed.

SHIRLEY SMITH: I am Shirley Smith, class of 1961, here at George Washington Carver.

CHARLES GIVENS: My name is Charles Givens.

I'm a 1963 graduate of George Washington Carver School.

CHARLES: There's a band there.

I cannot remember who was in that band but uh... SHIRLEY: I don't neither.

I don't... CHARLES: This was the office of the principal of Mr. Caldwell, his uh, wife was the secretary here.

The building since has been transformed, but it's actually intact as it was back in the 60s.

Behind you, there was a wall what had windows in it, which meant that the secretaries and the office staff could actually see the children coming into the building, passing in the hallway, watching children in the cafeteria, and just an observation area for them to see.

SHIRLEY: The window there I remember you could see through that window out in the hallway right there where that board is, where they had those papers stuff.

Ain't nobody felt bad.

Because everybody had, you know, you might be good in history, you might be good in math, you might be good in something else, but we all pushed together to help one another.

CHARLES: I knew when they would ask me, "Well, how many did you graduate with?"

And I think I was 11 in our class because a lot of students had already gone to the Perryville, the Boh Manor, and what have you.

But then when you hear from other schools there, like a Sollers Point High School, what have you, and they would say, "There is a hundred and some people in my graduating class."

You said, "Oh man."

But, we survived.

♪♪ NARRATOR: In a time when the color of your skin defined the limits of your opportunities, Charlie Givens was determined to break through every barrier placed in his path, which took him from those segregated classrooms to the prestigious halls of Morgan State University.

In a historic turn of events, Charlie Givens became one of the first African Americans elected as Elkton's town commissioner.

[Chatter] NARRATOR: Charlie didn't just serve his community in this role, but inspired it.

He worked tirelessly to ensure that Elkton was a town where every voice could be heard and every child, regardless of race, could dream as big as he had.

ALENA GIVENS: I really do believe if the teachers from the old colored school, and Mr. Caldwell, Mrs. Bessicks, Mrs. Pinkett, Mr. Carr, Mrs. Wallace, so many of them, oh, they would just stand and applause because they would be so proud of... their students' accomplishments and how they've grown into um, I want to say, magnificent people.

KYLE DIXON: This school here was built in the early 1950s as a result of efforts from people in the community, as well as the Federal government report indicating how poor the schools were for African American children in Cecil County.

What that study found is that the schools throughout for African American students in Cecil County were not in shape.

They were old, outdated, and they recommended the closure or uh, reconstruction of many of those new buildings.

Um, one of those schools included the old Elkton Colored School over here.

NARRATOR: Today, efforts to preserve The Elkton Colored School's history continue.

Time has taken its toll on these walls.

With every passing year, the challenge of maintenance and upkeep grows.

In an effort to protect and maintain this important piece of history an HVAC company works on the school.

EDDIE WIESER: What we have been going through is um, the whole building trying to understand what is going to happen to it in the future, because right now is the utility area that we're not going to be using for necessarily heating.

We're going to focus on heating the front office zone um making sure all the boiler heating loops are pressurized and work properly up front.

But when this circulator goes to run its tight and the propellers we're thinking is seized up because likely this thing ran dry.

What I am trying to do is spin that cuffling around.

There's a... spring I need to get a flathead right there.

That thing should be spinning a lot easier.

That first day I was out here we ended up capping a lot off to seal up a lot up front.

PASTOR KEVIN BROWN: Let me give you a hug brother Givens.

That's from her and this is for me.

[Footsteps] PASTOR BROWN: And they will have to go in and date the whole building.

So, this will be dated.

So this will probably stay here.

CHARLES GIVENS: So the pressure is still holding as it was when we we're here the other day?

EDDIE: Yep so other than that-- there was a bad piece of baseboard on the other side, that we ended up repairing that the first day out back.

[1950'S style music plays] NARRATOR: Educational opportunities for Black children were limited.

Amidst the struggle for equality, many students found themselves gravitating towards lessons on domestic work, a reflection of the prevalent societal norms.

In the 1950s, when options for Black women were often restricted, domestic work emerged as one of the few accessible avenues for employment.

PAULINE KEMP: The African American school, it really taught us, that there was more to life than what was in the books we were given.

NARRATOR: Guided by dedicated educators, students learned to turn humble ingredients into nourishing meals and transform chaotic spaces into havens of order and comfort.

Beyond the kitchen and the broom, these lessons instilled values of pride, resourcefulness, and resilience, offering glimpses of empowerment amidst the constraints of segregation.

PAULINE: I thank my teachers from Carver, from elementary on up for pushing me to want to learn more, learn more, because they would always, a lot of them would share their experiences.

[Rumble of car] PRODUCER: Do you remember that picture mom?

EDNA PINER: Yes, I do.

That's Patsy Walker.

[Producer laughs] I had teeth then.

[Edna laughs] PRODUCER: What grade was you in?

EDNA: 12th grade, it was graduation.

That's my graduation picture.

PRODUCER: Oh.

EDNA: Yep.

We had to walk from school down on Main Street in Elkton to get our picture taken.

We went two at a time.

EDNA: It's changed so much, but I remember those steps going up to, and I think right inside was uh, Mr. Caldwell's office, and uh, that's about it.

PRODUCER: How does it feel, being back on the grounds of the old school?

EDNA: It's amazing, and I can't believe that the building's still here, though.

[Laughs] So, like I said, I don't remember being, brick or cement.

It was- I thought it was like the wooden buildings.

PRODUCER: It's going to be an African American, Colored Museum and a Culture Center.

EDNA: That is so nice.

So, I'm proud to be a member, really and I should have brought my key to me, with me.

[Laughs] RHODA GOODSON: The only thing I remember is you know that she did go to Carver, you know?

But I never got an opportunity to know the education of mom's half because she really didn't talk to us about, them things.

You know?

And stuff by her being a domestic worker and working for another family and stuff and Grandma prac- practically raised us, and we could only hear the bits and pieces from them, you know?

And stuff to know anything and stuff.

And as far as Dad's education, I don't even know if there was an education.

CELIA INGRAM: I don't know much about it either to be honest with you, I mean, basically when I was growing up, it was basically whatever I was told to do whatever I was supposed to hear, I heard if I wasn't supposed to hear it I didn't hear it.

So I really couldn't go back and give you any history.

RHODA: This is my Mom's classmates here.

This is my Mom here.

These are all her classmates that she went to in Washington Carver.

This is graduation day.

But everybody here is the ones that graduated with my Mom.

1953.

George Carver's graduation ceremony.

♪♪ NANCY MCCARDELL: When I went to high school, it was a mile from where I lived.

It was on North Street.

I was born in Elkton in 1932 on a farm which is now known as the YMCA.

I graduated from high school in 1949, but it was a beautiful, beautiful stone building, and there were three floors.

We walked to school from Bow Street.

Sometimes we got lucky, and somebody would take us when it would rain, but not when it would snow.

And you went to school.

It didn't matter what the weather was.

You went to school.

NARRATOR: Educational materials in white schools reflected the latest advancements in teaching.

Students could take physics classes and chemistry.

These subjects were often out of reach for Black students.

NANCY: I think all the white children were aware that the Black children had their own school.

There was never, ever any contention.

PAULINE: We never had a Y in the... anything for Black students, children to do in Elkton.

Compared to us, we had a wooden building, and steps and whatnot.

Their school was fancy stone and well man- lawn, well manicured and whatnot.

And uh, so it wasn't, you know, it didn't really impress me as, "Oh, this is where the white kids go," compared to where us Black kids were going.

NANCY: I wonder why that was.

Why weren't they taught just the same as we were?

Evidently not.

Because in the white schools, they never discussed anything like that.

Did they think they weren't as smart as the white... children were?

Because they were, I'm sure.

But they just didn't get the same education, evidently, that the white children got.

It's what it seems like.

See, we didn't really know them because we were in different schools we and we just weren't associated with them.

NARRATOR: Elmer Warrick is a Korean war hero whose journey began within the walls of the George Washington Carver School.

The support of the community and dedicated teachers of George Washington Carver School marked Elmer's early years.

He learned the power of perseverance, discipline, and the importance of education despite the challenges posed by segregation.

ELMER WARRICK: My name is Elmer Warrick.

I was born in Chesapeake City, Maryland.

I'm 94 years old, soon to be 95.

I thank God for it.

During the time that I was raised up, my mother, Blanche Warrick, take me to the school in Chesapeake City where I was raised at.

And I went there and after I graduated out of there.

The teacher- from the teacher that taught that school.

Uh, it's hard for me to remember her name, but I left there and my mother decided she didn't want me to go to that school.

She wanted to transfer me to go to Elkton School, which was in Elkton, Maryland.

[Gunfire] NARRATOR: When the Korean War broke out, Warrick enlisted in the United States Army in the 1950s.

Warrick, like many young Americans, felt the call to serve his country.

He soon found himself on the front lines of a brutal and unforgiving conflict.

ELMER: During that time, we were an all-Black unit.

It was an all-Black unit that we weren't mixed as white.

We fought in the Korea, in the front lines to help the Koreans to help fight the battle of the, which had to be fought for the Koreans.

And we built bridges, destroyed bridges, and... make the way roads would go around the mountains to get to the- where they had to go.

NARRATOR: African American soldiers were organized into all-Black units, a reflection of the broader policies of segregation in the United States.

White officers often command these units.

Black soldiers have always fought separately, dating back to the Buffalo Soldiers of the post Civil War era.

The experience of Black soldiers in Korea mirrored the broader struggle for civil rights within the United States.

While these soldiers fought for freedom abroad, they returned home to a country where they were denied basic rights and dignity.

President Harry S. Truman called for the desegregation of the armed forces, and full integration of the military was not realized until the Vietnam War era.

NARRATOR: Like many other soldiers who fought in the Korean War, many had love affairs with women in Korea.

Warwick's wife was brought to the United States by another soldier.

Her husband passed away, and Warwick became involved with her, and they got married.

ELMER: You put yourself in life and when you go up in front hearing people shooting ammo, shooting rounds at you.

Over your head, you can hear the rifles uh, machine guns and and all that stuff flying around you.

But you're lucky enough, if you're lucky enough, you get through it somehow, I guess, by the grace of God that you get through it.

ELMER: Most of the fighting was up in north South Korea.

South Korea up here, along- along the border, along the border, up in this area here, most of the fighting was up here near this coast- coastline.

ELMER: She was only a kid, so I guess they probably didn't remember too much.

ELMER: That's Mr. Caldwell, the principal of the school.

Yeah, so, which is all Black school.

He was the principal.

ELMER: Yeah, it was all Black school.

All Black.

It was an all Black school.

He was the principal.

NARRATOR: Elmer Warwick's journey from Elkton Colored School to the war-torn fields of Korea and back home again, is a testament to the power of education, the strength of character and the enduring spirit of service.

ELMER: Being educated, having education, it means a whole lot because the military today is going to require you that you have to have a graduation or some kind of degree in order to get- to be involved into the military.

They're not going to take you, if you a drop out or something to that failure.

NARRATOR: Former Elkton Colored School students meet for lunch to discuss memories of their time at the Colored School and George Washington Carver High School.

♪♪ FREDA WILSON: My nephew Ducky said, what was they like when they was in high school, what was they like in school.

So you know that too.

I said, first and foremost, I do want to tell you this, we was all on the honor roll.

I said, we did pretty good with our grades.

[Inaudible] Yeah, I was Captain of the cheerleaders, and she was Captain of the basketball team.

And we used to do those little cheers.

NARRATOR: These former George Washington Carver students were teammates on the girls basketball team in 1958.

Today, they still enjoy each other's company.

FREDA: What was that?

That was 1960, 1958.

57?

SHIRLEY HILL: We played the white school before integration because we wasn't going to the white schools when we played Rising Sun, I'll never forget it.

FREDA: Nobody really bothered us when we, when we played at the white school, because we were go there looking like we could whip the world.

We going there like, we going there like, no, no, no, no, she go in there like, "Mafia Queens."

You know, we were go in there with my game face on.

But we would go in there with our game face on, so we had to play, you know, Rising Sun.

And then we looked at these big corn eating girls, and we was like, wait a minute.

SHIRLEY: That was a big red head freckle face girl.

FREDA: And then we would play Northeast.

I think Northeast was probably the friendliest team we played.

Northeast, Rising Sun, and Elkton.

And Elkton, of course Elkton.

GOVERNOR GEORGE WALLACE: In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever.

[Cheering] SENATOR JOHN F. KENNEDY: I'm not satisfied until every American enjoys his full constitutional rights.

If a Negro baby is born, and this is true also of Puerto Ricans and Mexicans in some of our cities, he has about one half as much chance to get through high school as a white baby.

I think we can do better, I don't want the talents of any American to go to waste.

♪ Walking down the street ♪ ♪ Feeling so fine ♪ ♪ Got that soul in my step ♪ ♪ Gonna make it mine ♪ ♪ The sun is shining bright, colors all around ♪ ♪ Feeling through the soul ♪ ♪ I'm never gonna come down ♪ ♪ I've got rhythm in my soul ♪ ♪ Can't help but move ♪ ♪ The sixties spirit ♪ ♪ Got that soulful groove ♪ ♪ In every step I take, the music's in my feet ♪ ♪ Feeling through the soul ♪ ELYSE MURRAY: In regards to segregation and the legislation that led to segregation in 1954, um with... Cecil County not moving in- in that direction and integrating the schools until around 1965.

For me, the, for me, how I see it is, we had legislation that said this is what we need to do, but we didn't have the prep work.

NARRATOR: The legislation was there, but the infrastructure and the will to implement it was lacking.

There was significant resistance from certain segments of the community and this greatly hampered the integration process.

The resistance to integration was not unique to Cecil County, but the county's rural nature and deeply entrenched local attitudes made the transition particularly slow.

It wasn't until 1965, more than a decade after the Brown decision, that meaningful steps toward integration were finally taken.

ELYSE: Those students who were the first um to go to the all-white schools and them being escorted by law enforcement um, and you're just a little person.

I had the privilege of seeing a documentary on that young lady who was escorted and how she said her teacher had her in a room by herself and the impact that that woman had on her because she felt that she had the capability to learn and she wanted her to be successful, but she didn't want her to be exposed.

DAN GRIFFIN: Ah, let me tell you about the way they integrated the schools first.

I mean, that kind of ticked me off.

You know?

Um, like I talk about my sister, Rosie here.

You know?

We had a lot of kids they were cherry-picked.

I hate to say that.

Instead of fully integrating the schools like the Board Of Education said, Cecil County went through the schools and they cherry-picked individuals and they were cherry-picked based on their complexion most of them.

NARRATOR: In 1954, the old Elkton Colored School was closed and in 1964 the Board of Education voted to close the George Washington Carver School.

The integration process in Elkton took approximately 11 years to complete.

Despite these efforts, full integration across all schools in Cecil County was not achieved until the late 1960s.

NARRATOR: In a landmark moment for both Maryland and the Civil Rights Movement, Bernard Purdie became one of the first African American students to integrate the all-white high school of Cecil County.

BERNARD PURDIE: They asked, first of all, they asked for somebody anyone that wanted to integrate into the white school.

And that was Ms. Wallace-Wolffer, who was my teacher, who was the one that actually signed for me along with Mrs. Bessicks, along with um, the lady who was the teacher and Mrs. Fitzgerald.

Well, Mr. Caldwell was the only one that was against it.

THELMA PURDIE WASHINGTON: Mr. Caldwell, what I can remember, he did not want him to go.

He did not want him to go.

But then after he got there, you know, it was different story, you know.

BARBARA FOOTE: They had start integrating a couple children at a time, because Bernard Purdie, and, and another young ma- gentleman.

They were the first to integrate, to the white schools.

BERNARD: Everyone was so surprised that they signed for me to go to the all white school.

THELMA: Well, we knew that he had... the papers had come home from Carver School and we knew that he was going to integrate.

Not per se that we knew that he was the first one, until after it was done, and everybody was excited.

They loved him.

I mean, they showed no animosity or anything other than the guys.

It was more of the guys like in school, like when he'd get that "N" word called at him, but the adults, they loved him because he was very polite.

We couldn't believe it, you know that our brother, you know, the first colored boy, you know, they would say colored at that time, you know, to go to the white school, Elkton Senior High School.

NARRATOR: Bernard Purdie returns to Elkton, Maryland to visit the school where his journey began.

The now abandoned building is a silent witness to a bygone era of segregation and struggle.

BERNARD: Oh my God.

The same floor.

This is the same floor!

CELIA: Incredible.... BERNARD: Ooh, wee.

Man, oh.

This is the floor!

The floor, the same floor.

[Chatter] CELIA: Don't even tell me this.

Don't even... What you came here and look what you did, you took what you had, you worked with it and look what a success you made out of your life.

BERNARD: Hm.

CELIA: This is just...

MALE VOICE: So, do you remember this Bernard?

BERNARD: Oh yeah.

MALE VOICE: So, Bernard, tell me what this is.

Where are we right now?

BERNARD: So I don't know if this one became a third grade or fourth grade.

But I know the fifth and the sixth grade was upstairs.

♪♪ NARRATOR: After graduating, Bernard Purdie pursued his passion for music.

His talent and dedication quickly earned him recognition, and he became one of the most renowned drummers in the world.

THELMA: He would just get up in the morning and he'd be banging.

Everything, you know, he would get up and just bang.

Anything that he could bang on, he would just bang.

[Band playing music] MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, Bernard Pretty Purdie.

Known to you guys here as Buggsy.

Let's take it home.

♪♪ [Cheering] DAN GRIFFIN: I don't know whether or not integration helped Black people.

I think it hurt them.

I really do.

I think if they allowed the Black schools the equipment, advancements that they gave the white kids, I think life would have been so much better today.

So much better.

All they did with integration, as far as I'm concerned was, went back to forcing people to do things.

MIKE DIXON: We're walking through Providence Cemetery and and you know I just have to pause and think as I pass stones that everybody would recognize of people who've contributed to the community of school teachers who taught at those school houses.

And and so when I look through this through this quiet cemetery on this Sunday morning and I look all around through here, everybody's got a story like that.

And the George Washington Carver School was an important place to them.

I see over there veterans from the wars, World War I, World War II, and the more recent campaigns.

And the one thing that was valued so much was education.

And that school house was central to the community, uh in a lot of ways.

Education of course but, also as a center of civic pride, civic engagement, sports, uh entertainment.

Great athletes would be coming out of here.

NARRATOR: After hard work by Wright's Church, the Mayor, County Executives, and Town Commissioners, Wright's Church now owns the deed to the historic school.

This landmark moment has sparked excitement in the community.

[Chatter] ANNETTE BROWN: Amen amen, I am excited, amen.

I am excited!

[Clapping] Amen.

Amen.

MAYOR ROBERT ALT: You see this has been many years trying to put this together and uh...it certainly happened for a reason.

You know, serving as Mayor of the town of Elkton we have a lot of projects that we do.

We build water towers, we put infrastructure into the ground, we built a community center right around the corner, we worked on a historic properties throughout the town.

And uh, we actually have the deed, that we would like to sign... [Clapping] over if we could, we have the deed and I would like to um, I have the ceremonial ink pen if I could.

And we are going to do a little autograph as we're going here.

[Claps] Perfect.

This is probably the most important part.

I'd like to present the key to the Board.

Congratulations.

[Clapping] We're looking forward to this.

Thank you.

[Applause] [Chatter] PASTOR BROWN: We have original windows here to the building um, that have just been encased and the chalk boards is still on the walls.

[Chatter in background] And so all of this will be totally restored to its original state.

Uh, this is the basement, and this is where, uh the upper class, the seniors were in the basement here.

Uh and as you can see, the original floor walls are here.

ANNETTE BROWN: The young people, the school-aged...kids, could see what we see today, and maybe they need to see this.

And they would get- gain more appreciation, for the space that they have now.

And they would appreciate that they have different classrooms, for different grades, that they don't have to, they're not all stuck in one place.

DANIELLE HORNBERGER: This is amazing.

I can't believe it said K through 5 on there like, that's original.

I just got chills.

Yes, that's what I said.

How many students would you have in that small space?

Can you imagine kids today?

Coming in?

ANNETTE: They can appreciate if they saw this.

DANIELLE: Yes.

MATT HOOKE: Are you another one of the alumni?

Or?

Oh, great.

Do you mind if I ask you a couple questions?

So what's it like to see your old school?

BARBARA FOOTE: It looks beautiful.

I am glad to see it.

But they messed it up so bad now that we just don't know where the classrooms are and nothing.

MATT: Yeah all the changes that were made over all the different owners.

BARBARA: It's really nice to be able to come back.

You come right in and Mr. Caldwell's office was right there and our room would be like over here.

CHARLES GIVENS: Well, Betty always referred to going in the basement because that's where you had classrooms.

BARBARA: No, we didn't.

CHARLES: You didn't?

Well, some of them did.

JACKIE GREGORY: I think it's amazing how, how far that we've come as a society and that we truly value education now and um, really try to make sure everybody has opportunities now.

MAYOR ALT: There's no question.

The stories that we're, that uh, that we're going to talk about, the memories that were made were here, and the legacies is going to be phenomenal for this property.

The Elkton Colored School and Museum and the Cultural Center is going take us to a whole new level here in the town of Elkton.

And uh, we're looking forward to this being uh, a place that we can have stories told, memories made, and uh, discuss the legacies of many of the folks that attended this school.

PASTOR BROWN: Everybody forgot that the church was interested in- interested in restoring this property and so at some point in time, uh it went up for sale and so I immediately went uh and spoke with uh the mayor uh and the town leaders and said that they could not sell this property its a historic landmark, The town could not gift this property to us and so therefore they sold uh this property to us as we began to show them the significance and the value of this property.

Not only is this a museum to showcase the achievements of African Americans and to remember and honor the legacy of Blacks who went to this school we look to build up this community.

NARRATOR: Ms. Thelma sits here today at 103 years old, a living archive of history, a woman who has witnessed both unimaginable hardship and hard-won triumph.

She is the oldest surviving graduate of the Elkton Colored School of Cecil County, Maryland.

A title she holds with quiet pride and a sense of responsibility to those who came before and those who will come after.

SHIRLEY HICKS: Do you remember the many years you attended this school, and what grades you went to?

THELMA NUBLE: The elementary school that I went to before I came to Elkton, it went far as eighth grade, and then, we came up here to this school.

SHIRLEY: Okay, so you came here for high school?

THELMA: Yeah.

JOSEPH PINER, JR: She is one of the last, living survivors of the Elkton Colored School and that's just a pleasure, and just a mighty pleasure, just to be next to you, right?

This is just a wonderful time, to just know a piece of that history, not only women's history, but also Black history.

It's... just a beautiful thing, and I... praise God for you.

I just thank you for just being you.

ANNETTE BROWN: It was interesting that when I heard you talking about your sister Shirley asked you about hostility, particularly during that time when, you know, racism and all that kind of stuff, was happening.

But it seemed like you were in a place of peace in the classroom.

Was that the case?

Were you able to block that out?

Or, you know, what was what was happening?

THELMA: It was hard on you, you know, trying to deal with it, but we never had no problem.

ANNETTE: Absolutely.

Even when you were had... even when you were riding to school, it was a peaceful ride.

Nothing happening around you?

THELMA: No.

ANNETTE: None of that.

Wow!

GINNY COLE: Thelma has been working for our family for 61 and a bit years.

She lives with me full time now for 20 some years.

And she's been a total blessing to our family, 61 years... THELMA: But at first when I first started working for your mother she didn't have any kids.

GINNY: Yep, so Colt would be 61.

You know, what I love is the history and I would, I would always ask her, like, "Nanny, were you ever disrespected or whatever?"

And she goes, "No, I was never like, beaten or anything like that."

She goes, "But, you know there's sandwich shops."

You know, she lived on the north side of Chesapeake, "And I couldn't go into the sandwich shop."

Thelma's not one to, to bite her tongue.

And she told me it's a good thing I didn't grow up in the South because I know I would have been swinging from a tree.

You know she's smart.

I mean no doubt about it.

I mean she- what keeps her at 103 and um she reminds me of stuff I need to do all the time.

Maybe if she didn't go through all that, she didn't have like the easiest marriage and stuff like that.

She wouldn't be the person she is today.

And maybe that's why she's so strong and 103 years old 'cause Lord knows she's seen a lot and had to live through a lot.

PASTOR KEVIN BROWN: Miss Thelma we are so grateful and appreciative for all that you have done for Elkton, for Chesapeake City and uh, just a couple of days ago we received the title to the Elkton Colored School and we invited those who was still living who went to the Elkton Colored School to be a part of the celebration and we presented them this key, because the school really belongs to you.

And so on behalf of the board members for the Elkton Colored School Museum and Culture Center Inc. We want to present you this ceremonial key uh...because that building across the street, you went to that school, you labored in that school and so we want you to know that that building is yours.

THELMA: Thank you.

[Clapping] ♪♪