Following the close of the Civil War in 1865, Armstead Barker brought his family to this area. Other African American families followed, and their settlement became known as Gum Creek. By the mid-1880s, African American children in the area attended Gum Creek School, which offered classes through the eighth grade. Students met in a one-room frame building. Early teachers included P.H. Eddings, S.H. Wilhite and J.M. Donnell. J.T. Dunnington, Sam Frank, W.H. Barker and C.S. Sharp served as trustees. As in many rural schools, students attended classes from October through March so they could work in the fields for planting and harvesting seasons. The school was part of County District Two. When area white schools combined to form the Baxter School, the Gum Creek facility was sometimes also called Baxter Colored School. In 1902, J.I. Richardson bought land in this vicinity that included the school location. Wade's Chapel A.M.E. Church also used the school building, and in 1920, when Richardson's widow, Nannie, sold the property to school district trustees, the deed stipulated that it continue to be used for both school and church purposes. Following the 1938-39 school term, Gum Creek School closed. Students transferred to Blackshear Public School and Fisher High School in Athens, and the school district sold the property to Wade's Chapel Methodist Church. Dunnington heirs later bought the property, and the building burned in 1942. Today, the history of Gum Creek School represents early efforts to educate the area's African American youth. In the many decades between emancipation and integration, parents and educators strived to provide education as a means to true freedom. (2005)
This page last updated: 7/15/2008 |
Site of Gum Creek School Historical Marker Location Map, Athens, Texas
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Related Themes: Texas C.S.A., Texas Confederate States of America, Confederacy
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