humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare

----------------------------------
. Lincoln Normal School motto:
. "We'll Forget? No, NEVER!"
.
http://www.ruthk.net/marion/lincoln/chorusmemories.html
----------------------------------
Lincoln Normal School Faculty and Staff 1867-1970
http://www.ruthk.net/marion/lincoln/directory/Staff2.html
.
*MISS RUTH NEUENDORFFER* , Librarian, Civics,
. Physical Education 1942-43
.
Miss Gracie Newell , Mathematics, Music 1908-43
----------------------------------
Lincoln Normal School : In the Beginning
http://www.ruthk.net/marion/lincoln/directory/In%20the%20Beginning.html
.
<grew out of the Civil War when a Union Army soldier started teaching
former slaves how to read and write somewhere in Marion. Some have
said near the Birmingham highway on the northeast side of town. It is
not known with certainty why the soldier remained, but a story that
may be valid says that the soldier recuperated while teaching.
Historical research leads one to believe that should the story be
true, the soldier might well have come from Minnesota. For sometime
between March 31 and April 2, 1865, Minnesota and Wisconsin troops of
General James A. Wilson en route to Selma to destroy Confederate
ironworks, attacked troops of General Nathan Bedford Forrest at a
place called Ebenezer Church - a site east of Marion.
.
And just before the war ended, the Minnesota Volunteer Infantry was a
part of the occupation force in Selma, according to Civil War Times,
and other sources. The Methodist chaplain of the Minnesota unit,
Elijah Even Edwards kept a diary, and "commented on the swarms of
Negroes who poured into Selma and told of their widespread murder by
disgruntled whites...." These events took place only days before the
Civil War ended.>>
----------------------------------
Lincoln Normal School
Researched in 1976 by Idella J. Childs, Class of 1921
http://www.ruthk.net/marion/lincoln/lincolnnormalschool.html
.
<holding Ph.D. degrees, Dr. Horace Mann Bond was struck by the fact
that a disproportionate number of these persons had family roots in
Perry County, Alabama. Further study of their backgrounds led Dr. Bond
to conclude that Lincoln Normal School, located in Marion, in Perry
County, was the decisive factor in the unusual number of doctors of
philosophy as well as other records of higher achievement on the part
of Negroes who came from this predominately rural, black, impoverished
and culturally deprived county in the very "Heart of Dixie". Another
illustration of the school's influence was revealed at the twenty-
fifth reunion of the Lincoln Class of 1943, when the assembled
graduates discovered that all of their children who were old enough
were either attending college or had completed four years with
education at an institution of higher learning.>>
.................................................
<King Jr., the Class of 1943 held a 25th anniversary reunion on the
campus in 1968. Two new structures, including a basketball gymnasium
had been erected. The new home economics building seemed oddly out of
place to old eyes with long memories. It lay partly in the space on
the campus where Livingston Hall stood, and the street.
.
Mr. and Ms. Wilfred Gamble, Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Thomas, and *MISS RUTH
NEUENDORFFER* attended. Besides, other former students not from the
class of 1943 who just happened to be in Marion at the time also
attended. Ten to 15 community people were present. The widow of the
slain leader, Coretta Scott King, a Lincoln graduate, was there with
her children.
.
Some 14 of the 22 member class of 1943 returned. Two of the 22 had
expired, two did not respond to the request to attend, and two or
three others could not return at the time. It was noted, however, that
of the 39 children born to members of the class, and old enough to be
in college were in college or had graduated.>>
.................................................
<develop in an area in which racism flourished and hostility to Negro
education prevailed? Stories of the hunger for learning on the part of
the Freedmen following the Civil War and the dedication of their
northern teachers are legend. Without question, it was these two
ingredients that built Lincoln Normal School and kept it alive and
active for over a hundred years.
.
A crippled Union soldier left behind during the Civil War started to
teach the black children around him. This kindled the fire that was
smothering in the hearts of the ex-slaves and a group of them came
together on July 17, 1867, formed and incorporated "The Lincoln School
of Marion;" their petition for incorporation reads as follows:
.
"The true intent and meaning of this declaration being, that although
we, for purposes of convenience, associate ourselves into a
corporation, ...every colored man and child in Marion is equally
interested in the objects of our association ... and we expect to
obtain the property which we shall acquire from them principally, and
for their benefit."
.
The original trustees, only recently released from slavery, were James
Childs, Alexander H. Curtis, Nicholas Dale, John Freeman, David
Harris, Thomas Lee, Nathan Levern, Ivey Pharish, and Thomas Speed.
They acquired a lot in the west part of town and a small building for
the school, but found it difficult to recruit and pay teachers.
Consequently, on September 10, 1868, the trustees sought the aid of
and entered into an agreement with the American Missionary Association
(A.M.A.), an auxiliary of the congregational churches. The building
and grounds were released to the Association without charge for a
period of ten years. In return, the Association was to keep the
building in repair, pay teachers and maintain a school for at least
seven months each year. The trustees promised "to induce colored
citizens of Marion to assist in the maintenance of said school." It
was specified that the school house was to be "used in such a manner
as to afford the means of education to the largest practicable number
of applicants, preference being given to those preparing to teach."
.
The A.M.A. bought an old plantation house and farm nearby. This
plantation house, which at one time had been headquarters of the local
Ku Klux Klan, was remodeled and made into a teachers home. The name
given it was "Forest Home."
..................................
Rev. W. Adelbert Redfield came when Miss Morton left to work in the
New York office in 1937. He was interested in all the people--in
schools and communities. He organized community centers, and
interested students in the cooperative movement. He looked forward to
the day when a cooperative group would be organized in each of the
county sections. All who came in contact with Mr. Redfield will always
remember his eagerness to help solve any problems at school or in
community. This caused "local" complaints to be made to the A.M.A.
concerning his activities. As a result, the A.M.A. decided to
terminate his contract. The people met again in the Congregational
Church and demanded that he continue to serve here. Fearing racial
trouble, the A.M.A. replaced him with Mr. Fred Gamble in 1938.
.
Mr. Gamble remained until 1943. He was able to do quite a bit for the
school and community. Like Mr. Redfield, he created much interest in
cooperatives. The tuition was reduced to $4.50 per year. Community
groups were active in the discussion of health, transportation and
cooperation in a hot lunch program. The belfry was removed from
Livingston Hall, the building renovated and painted inside, an
electric bell installed and the campus beautified.
.
The students assumed more and more leadership in campus matters, and
the curriculum was revised to more adequately meet the needs of the
students. The famous "Little Chorus" was organized by Miss Ollie J.
Williams who, with the assistance of Mrs. Fran Thomas, toured many
Northern States.
.
Mr. Gamble was the last white principal. In 1943, the Perry County
Board of Education began to cooperate with the A.M.A. in providing
some of the financial support for the school. This meant that the
white members of the faculty had to go. Negroes had served along with
whites on the faculty for decades. Even Miss Grace Newell who came in
1908 as the Matron of Douglass Hall, the boy's dormitory, and taught
math and music for 35 years, had to go.
.
When school opened in September of 1943, the Rev. E. A. Smith, a local
minister, became the first black principal. He and his all black staff
began the transitional period of about ten years during which Lincoln
gradually went from a private to a public school.>>
------------------------------
_All of Us_ - Ritten Edward Lee, Class of '43
.
Our tears of tender adolescence have long since dried.
We worshipped at that altar of wisdom and tried
To understand the highest planes of life's reality.
Some without fear, yet with hope and humility.
We return to that place of tightly knotted youth
Where the flaming torch of ideas in a matrix of truth
Swirled painfully around in a maze of measured learning
An anxious puzzlement set ambition quietly burning.
There, the bards, great men, the saints and venerable sages
Leaped from ages past; from tones with yellowed pages
And become etched in some secluded cranial nooks
As we learned from doing, not only from books.
We return to that place wiser in consumed years,
Seasoned by relentless days (decades) and conquered fears.
There we learned of dignity, values, and other honored decrees
That have strengthened life voyages on heavy seas.
The halls became rubble, and are now destoryed and gone.
But always to remain photographs etched on polished stone
In the eyes of the mind, cherished, beautiful to behold.
Though dead, the pictures permit precious memories to unfold.
Forever.
------------------------------
Art Neuendorffer
nephew to *MISS RUTH NEUENDORFFER*