Pickens County Rosenwald Alumna Leads Efforts to Renovate School

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — The Alabama schoolhouse remains a part of American history from an era when more than five thousand schools through the country were built primarily for the education of blacks in the early 20th century.

The Rosenwald School, was built around 1925 and is the only remaining of six Rosenwald School buildings constructed in Pickens County.

Now, Paulette Locke-Newberns, a former student, is among those leading efforts to renovate the facility.

“The ultimate goal there is to restore the building so that it can serve as a full-fledged community center not only for the citizens of the area, but for the people around the area,” said Locke-Newberns, the Rosenwald Pickensville Community Center project coordinator. “There is no community center . . . the closest community center is about 10 miles away.

The school, closed since the 1960s, was founded when Booker T. Washington, principal of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University), developed the Rosenwald School program with funding from Julius Rosenwald, then CEO of Sears & Roebuck. The schools were created to promote collaboration between white and black citizens.

“My experience was going there meeting loving teachers who cared a lot about me,” said Locke-Newberns. “One of the things that stands out is I always did love the arts. A music teacher came in once a week and he would teach us music in the form of a choir. He saw something more in me, and my dad supported it. I learned to play the piano because of that.”

The renovation has been the focus of community efforts for several years, but was delayed during the devastating tornados April 2011. Before the storm damage, roof, window, and other exterior repairs had been completed.

Locke-Newberns said the next phase is to strengthen the foundation structure.

“Right now I’m in the process of seeking funding for that,” she said. “The building has continued to be of use including reading camps for the children; literacy programs and other programs for the elderly.”

‘Heart of community’

Pickensville Mayor Mary Locke-Fuseyamore has been another supporter of the project.

“Rosenwald School has been the center of the community since its establishment in 1925,” she said. “The building itself was actually built and had the participation of the elders, the parents and families. Everybody had an input in the building of the school.”

The building remains “the heart of the community,” the mayor said.

“There are no close by schools, libraries especially for the black community,” she said. “We would like to have it ready and open for senior citizens to meet . . . and to get back to literacy programs because we still need it.”

Carolene Locke Wright is another former student grateful for her experiences at the school.

“Without the Rosenwald School foundation I don’t know where I would have been elementary education wise,” she said. “Our mother and our father pushed education. The community just stayed and pulled together. Even now we can still come together and we are continuing to restore and keep the legacy alive that can benefit my children and grandchildren.”

Locke Wright also said the school would not have been constructed without Nunnie and Jennie Stinson, residents who donated the three acres of land to build one of the first Rosenwald Schools in Pickens County, AL.

Locke-Newberns said the project has received support from University of West Alabama President Dr. Richard Holland; grants from the National Trust for Historic Preservation; Tombigbee Resource, Conservation & Development Council, Inc., and donations from alumni who made possible the installation of a new roof on the building.

By Barnett Wright 
Published on AL.com Dec. 26, 2013, Updated: Dec. 26, 2013