Paul Laurence Dunbar School

Paul Laurence Dunbar School. . At the end of the Civil War, Emanuel Smith, a formerly enslaved man who became a member of the local school board in Apalachicola during Reconstruction, wrote to the American Missionary Association for help in establishing a school in Apalachicola for people of African decent. , , Ezekial W. Walton, a minister of St. Paul AME Church and great-grandfather of Rose McCoy-Thomas, signed a contract on July 11, 1892 for $123 to build the first school for African Americans in Apalachicola. The school was located on the north end of Eighth Street and Avenue M. Before the turn of the 20th Century, instruction at the school accommodated grades one through five. In the early part of the 20th Century, three more grades were added. The addition of the three grades advanced the educational programs and made it possible for students to complete grammar school. Upon obtaining grammar school status, the school's name was changed from "The Colored School of Apalachicola", to "Paul Laurence Dunbar School", for the African American poet. , , One of Dunbar's first principals was Gaddis C. Hall. The school's seven teachers taught grades one through eight. Black families who could afford to do so, sent their children away to Tallahassee, Jacksonville, St. Augustine, New Orleans, and other places to stay with relatives or friends in cities where there were high schools for Black people. , , Beginning in the 1928-29 school year, the ninth grade was added. In 1929-30, the tenth grade was added but no additional grades were added after that which resulted in families again sending their children away to school. Mr. Charles Watson-Clark, renowned educator in Franklin County wrote, "I graduated three times before finishing high school." , , The school board provided six months of school for Black students. White students received eight months of school. One White resident thought this arrangement unfair and agreed to pay the salaries of Black teachers for one month to extend the school year to seven months for Black Students. Black parents raised money to pay teachers for one additional month of instruction bringing the total months of in-school instruction for Black students to eight months. There were no free books for Black students. Parents pooled money to buy books that were shared. Most of the drinking water at Dunbar High School came from "Cool Spring" a natural freshwater spring located near the school. Teachers would send boys with buckets and dippers to get water for the school. On cold days, students would go out to gather pinecones for the wood burning stoves to provide heat in the school. , , In 1933, the school board made Dunbar a high school. The board permitted one grade per year to be added, culminating in the first Dunbar graduating class in 1936. The names of the graduates are as follows: Farris Lee Rhodes, Senetta Capers, Willie Hazel Glenn, Rita A. Speed, Emma Lee Johnson, Mattie Lee Speed, Eddie Byrd, Clifford Jackson, Charles Kilby, Hayward Glenn, Robert Sutton, Frances Russ, and Fredrick Jenkins. Two of the 13 graduates remained in Apalachicola. , , The ten-room, Paul Laurence Dunbar School burned down on February 11, 1943. Wallace M. Quinn, the owner of a local menhaden plant, donated 21 acres of land as the site for a new school. Wallace M. Quinn High School opened in April 1945. In 1945, Quinn High School was the most modern school for Black people in North West Florida. , , The African American teachers with the longest service to Dunbar and Wallace M. Quinn High Schools are: Louise Carter Baker (46 years), Mary Jane Barefield Tolliver (46 years), Mary Thomas Edwards (42 years), Ruby Tampa (41 years), Maude Thomas Wynn (36 years), Gladys Ford (36 years), and Maude Collins (22 years). Maude Thomas Wynn and Mary Thomas Edwards were sisters. Mary Edwards graduated from Florida State Normal and Industrial School, now Florida A&M University, in 1908. , Read more about the people and places of Apalachicola's Black History Trail by scanning the QR code above or by visiting cilyotapalachicola.com