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. Many students of the institution used the knowledge and wisdom gained there as springboards for success in many areas of life. One of these was Melvin Goodrum, whose career as teacher, coach, and principal in Arkansas schools earned him honors and respect. In observance of Black History Month, the Tanner Preservation Committee has shared several of these autobiographical sketches with us.

"Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it."            Proverbs 22:6

Melvin Goodrum attended Tanner High School where he graduated in 1959, then Morristown Junior College in Morristown, Tennessee, and received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Health and Physical Education from Arkansas AM&N (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) in 1964.

Later, Melvin earned a Master of Science Degree in Education and Administration from Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi. 

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