The Clay County Museum will showcase an exhibit this month on schools built to provide an education to Southern black communities of the 1900s.
Director Beverly Hollifield said the county has a historic Rosenwald School still standing. Hollifield said there are only less than 40 such schools still standing. Hollifield said the school building is used as a community center in the Free Hills outside of Celina.
“There was an effort to bring education to people even if they did not have the proper resources,” Hollifield said. “So I think it lets us know that even when the environment or the community maybe doesn’t have what we need, there are ways.”
Hollifield said the museum wants to educate the public on the building and share the story of Bobby Bartlett, a graduate and teacher from the school. Hollifield said the Rosenwald Schools have a strong history in the county.
Hollifield said the state put the traveling exhibit together to go around multiple museums across the state. Hollifield said the museum is the first to have the exhibit. Hollifield said the exhibit will allow the museum to share the rich history of the county while attracting new visitors to the museum to see the Rosenwald exhibit.
“They will also see the history of Clay County and a lot of the artifacts and things that we have at the museum,” Hollifield said. “I think it’s very important to Clay County that we recognize our history and learn from our history and let it help us to make a brighter future.”
Hollifield said Sears and Roebuck had a strong influence over the Rosenwald Schools, as the project relied on their funding. Hollifield said the Rosenwald Schools is a testament to how hard work and dedication can achieve access to anything. Hollifield said the school structure represents how residents of the county wanted to bring a proper education to everyone.
“There’s always a way to bring education to your community and to help people to learn,” Hollifield said. “In other aspects, it could be something else other than a school room. It could be a trade, it could be learning how to do something.”
