Booker T. Washington School
The Booker T. Washington School reunion is planned for July 9-12. The former students and staff are celebrating 47 years since the school closed. This is the ninth reunion of the former school, the only black high school in the Hamilton County School System prior to desegregation.
Activities planned for the reunion include a reception, picnic and a banquet. The reunion will culminate with Sunday services.
The Booker T. Washington School was located in the Washington Hills community on Oakwood Drive. The school opened in 1924 with Mr. J. T. Swann, a former teacher at Chickamauga and Soddy Grammar Schools serving as principal. Booker T. Washington was a consolidation of three schools—Turkey Foot, Magby Pond and Tyner. The school included grades one through eight with grades being added as the school progressed. An addition was made to the school in 1930 at which time Mr. J. L. Espey was named principal. All the concepts of a regular high school curriculum were being carried out when two buildings were destroyed by fire.
The Booker T. Washington School was rebuilt in 1934 and reopened with Mr. T. D. Upshaw, Jr. as principal. It included grades one through twelve. Besides the regular high school courses for which its students received credit from the state, there were courses developed with a two-fold purpose: to develop the student for furthering his education and to train him to become a well-rounded person enabling him to perform to the best of his ability and usefulness in society.
A Sept. 1, 1934 Chattanooga Times article described the new school as a training and demonstration school for the “colored section of the county schools.” The additional courses were primarily service in nature and trained students in service-oriented skills such as housekeeping, carpentry, agriculture and cooking, and the use of equipment that would aid them in these service-related careers.
The teachers, however, encouraged the students to move beyond the limits and expectations set up by the Hamilton County School System at that time, said officials. Academics were always at the forefront of each student’s course of study. The limits that a segregation system imposed were diminished by a dedicated staff and students encouraged by parents who wanted more for them. Every student had to prepare a “Chapel Talk” as a requirement for graduation which included researching the topic and making an oral presentation. The “Chapel Talk” was a tradition that is comparable to an exit project used in many schools today. The setting, however, was quite formal and solemn. This is where the student could shine as the presentation was made in his or her “Sunday Best.” This tradition was the highlight of the senior year.
The high school was also the place where its feeder schools (all the black elementary schools in the previously segregated county school system) would come together for the May Day activities. The day was a combination of field activities, academic demonstrations and a celebration with a queen and her court with other presentations by each of the elementary schools. These and other traditions will be high on the list of topics during the reunion as they reminisce on those days.
At a time when there were no cell phones or electronic tablets, few television sets; Booker T. was a mecca for its student’s education and social life. A place where they could learn to thrive in a world full of road blocks, but one they had learned to navigate anyway, said officials.
For additional information on the reunion, contact the chairman, Lucy Borders Nealy, at 698-2164.
Booker T. Washington School