The Newport Plain Talk

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Tanner Preservation Committee continues its work to rescue and preserve the historic Tanner School, one of the few Rosenwald Schools remaining in America. Several former students at the institution have shared their memories of their school days there, along with a brief description of their lives afterwards. In observance of Black History Month, the Tanner Preservation Committee has shared several of these autobiographical sketches with us.

I attended Tanner High School between the years of 1939 - 43. All of my older brothers and sisters preceded me there. They were Charles, Willie Mae, David Jr., and Hermene Clark. My two younger brothers, Cauley and Dennis, briefly attended Tanner before my parents sold the family farm in Dutch Bottoms and moved to Morristown. (Note: my sister, Hermene and I are the only two survivors). Since my older siblings all went off to school upon graduating from Tanner, it was only a logical progression that I too would pursue post-secondary study upon receiving my diploma.

We had all grown up in Dutch Bottoms when the country experienced and was recovering from the Great Depression only to find ourselves affected by World War II a few years later. It had a direct impact on my family and community in numerous ways. There were shortages of everything from food to materials, such as the paper we needed for school. Also, some of my family and classmates were either drafted or volunteered for the military.

For more details, please see the Thursday edition of the Newport Plain Talk.