Rosenwald Schools

Rosenwald schools are an essential part of history. Aiming to improve the education of African Americans, Rosenwald schools were built thanks to the Rosenwald Fund. Founder of Tuskegee Institute Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald, one of the founders of Sears Roebuck, launched the project to build schools for African American children in the South. Washington wanted to build schools across the segregated South. In 1912, he shared his plan with Rosenwald, asking him for financial support. Rosenwald agreed to match funds raised for African American schools by each community. Thanks to that initiative, 5,300 schools, vocational shops and teachers’ homes opened across 15 states in the period between 1912 and 1932.

Giles County was home to several Rosenwald schools. Holt Elementary School of Elkton was one of them. With a rich history, Holt Elementary School demonstrates the strength of Elkton’s African American community from its foundation, said Kelly Hamlin, editor of the Giles County Historical Society Bulletin.

“Its survival to this day is a testament to the continued value of historic places,” Hamlin said.

The history of Holt Elementary School goes back to the 19th century. In the 1890s, Reverend Matt Gardner built a school for African American students in Elkton. The school operated successfully but a fire destroyed it in 1921. After the fire, students attended school at the Primitive Baptist and Missionary Baptist churches in Elkton, according to Hamlin. The community wanted a proper school building, and the Rosenwald Fund offered an opportunity. As the Rosenwald Fund guidelines required, constructing the Elkton Rosenwald School needed support from the entire community.

“Beginning in 1925, under the leadership of Reverend Matt Gardner, the Black community raised funds to match the contributions of the Rosenwald Fund and the state government,” Hamlin said.

After four years of fundraising, the Elkton Rosenwald School committee secured $5,950 for construction and purchased four acres of land south of the Elk River in Elkton. The committee renamed the school from Elkton Elementary to Holt Elementary because the Holt family made significant donations to the fund. Construction of the three-room school building began in 1929.  Holt Elementary opened in January of 1930, serving first grade through eighth grade. On the first day of school, Reverend Matt Gardner, Principal Alice Coleman, teachers Jennie Doughty Davis and George Hall welcomed the students into their new school building, according to Hamlin. 

“Professor Hall played ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ on the school’s piano as students entered, followed by a prayer led by Reverend Gardner,” Hamlin said. “The school was heated with a stove, and water for students came from a nearby spring and well. Student enrollment stayed near 100 throughout the operation of Holt Elementary. The second month of school was usually interrupted by cotton picking, when students would stay out of school to help their families in the cotton fields. The school fielded teams in track, baseball, basketball, football, volleyball and tennis.”

The weekly program of the school included devotion, writing, drawing, arithmetic, reading, health, spelling, geography, civics, history, recess and story hour. Gardner remained involved in the school, serving as the chairman of the Elkton Colored School Board and the president of the School Improvement Association for years. After the first few years of operation, Gardner supplied the school with its water, teacher salaries, used books, and heating fuel.

Students of Holt Elementary excelled and won various contests.

“In 1936, the school won the Beautification Prize, recognizing Holt as being the most beautifully decorated with flowers among all of Giles County’s schools,” Hamlin said. “That same year, in the Field Day which brought together students from all of Giles County’s Black schools, Holt won the oratorical contests, the high jump, the wheelbarrow race, and the yelling contest. Eighth graders celebrated graduation wearing red caps and gowns, followed by a performance of the operetta Jack and the Beanstalk. The following year, in 1937, the school sent a contestant to the statewide spelling bee contest.”

Today, Holt Elementary School still brings memories to residents of Giles County. Roosevelt Whitfield, born in 1940 in Giles County, learned from his parents and from teachers at Holt Elementary that education is very important, and he instilled that notion in his children and grandchildren. Whitfield sometimes had to walk to school when he didn’t have a quarter for the bus. 

“We walked five miles, but we would make it – sometimes we would be a little late, but we would make it,” Whitfield said. “My parents taught us to get a good education and to treat people with good manners and respect. On our farm, we raised cotton and corn, and we had hogs, cows and chickens. Our parents put us through school – I had three brothers. We all finished high school and had at least two years of college. I graduated from college in 1977…We knew the Lord’s prayer. We had nothing but love for people. In school, we were taught how to treat people.”

Whitfield expressed pride in his close-knit family. Today, he has 32 grandchildren.

 “I have four boys and two girls, and they are all well-educated,” Whitfield said. “I think I had an impact on their lives. I teach my children to treat people the way they want to be treated.”

Whitfield recalled his teachers at Holt Elementary School.

I remember Howard Driver, Effie Driver and Jennie Dailey,” Whitfield said. “They graduated from Tennessee State.”

Teachers at Holt Elementary between 1930 and 1965 included Agnes Bridgeforth, Mattie Gilbert, Lou Burch, George Hall, Alice Coleman, Edward Jones, Susie Jones, Eliza Dailey, Minta Love, Jennie Davis, Eliza Loyd, Louise Demonbreun, Mattie Mayberry, Leona Potter and Cornelia Reynolds, according to the Giles County Historical Society Bulletin.

“We were taught discipline,” Whitfield said. “We would say the Lord’s prayer in the morning and the teacher would read the Bible.”

Giles County resident Bob Swinea also went to Holt Elementary School. Swinea was born in Elkton in 1931. 

He attended Holt Elementary School from first to eighth grade.

“I went there all eight years and graduated as the salutatorian of my class in 1945,” Swinea said. “My teacher, starting in the third grade, was Ms. Jennie Dailey. When I got to fifth, sixth and seventh grade, my teacher was Mr. Howard Driver. In 1945, Mr. Howard Driver went into the army, and Ms. Dailey had become principal and was teaching the eighth grade. She was my teacher when I graduated from the eighth grade. All my teachers were very knowledgeable and did an outstanding job. Each one of them had to teach as many as three grades per day.”

Holt Elementary School served the students of Elkton until 1965, when Giles County ended its policy of racially segregated schools. Holt students integrated into Elkton Elementary School. The building of Holt Elementary School is still serving the community today, as home to Union Hill Missionary Baptist Church.

In addition to Holt Elementary School, Anthony Hill School, Lynnville School, Poplar Hill School, Davis Academy, Bodenham School and Waco School were constructed through the Rosenwald project, according to the Giles County Historical Society Bulletin. These historic places have impacted the lives of so many and continue to inspire communities to preserve the history, tell the stories of the past, and strive for a bright future.