State

_ Tar Hi i i. Memories _ By Freda Jell' reys Remembering Rolesville Long before the days of civil rights, the writer attended an all-black elementary school in Wake County — and the memories are still vivid. Tin* lieshlv painted little three- room while srhoolhoti.se stood out against the a/ure blue ski ol an < )« loher clay. Ii was im lii >i riav ai Rolesville Lleinc-ntaiv School lot Coloied. I wax 7 years old. and the veai was 1929. Because ol a leirihle Im tin with tvphoid level when I wash, my nutlhei thought ii wise lo keep me home, whit h is win I did uni go io м liool until I was 7. The vlmol was Iniill in eat К 1900. Il was located about a mile and a hall north ol the town ol Rolesville in east¬ ern Wake (aiunty. Il was on the lei I side ol a dill load across from the Rolesville Baptist ( ’.hurt h c emeleiv lot whites. The aiea's liist one-room school, called the Little Red Schoolhousc. was located on the чипе toad about a <|iiai tei-mile north ol Rolesville. It had burned down in the eatly 1900s. Mv uncle. I.uthei Jellrevs. born in 1X91. attended this school until it binned; the children then went to a one-room school called Balance Rock, located about two and a hall miles northeast ol Rolesville. Rolesville Elementary had three icac lifts: Kli/ahflh Mitchell. Lucille Leonard and Pearl Smith. The princi¬ pal. Mitchell, a small. faiiHomplex- ioneil, heckle-faced ladv. was my liist grade- tc-ac her. I heir wete about 30 c hildren in hei loom, more gills than lx>vs. Some ol the- Imvs were as old as I <» and 12 years old. Ik-c.iiisc- many ol them had to stay out ol school to work. Some ol tlieii parents were sharec t oppers. and land* lends did not think education was mipoitaiit. I hev came to school three months out ol sc-vc-ii. I lie- sc hool year bc-g.m in October and ended in early 77ir writer's teacher at Rolesville, Liteille Ix-ouard, taught there from 1)29 to 19-17. May. (nils wore high top lace-up or but¬ ton-up shoes and ribbed cotton stock¬ ings held up aliove the knee with a suing. Oui mothers made most ol our clothes: dresses ol cotton print, slips and bloomers ol grav flannel. Some ol us wore pink or white bloomers from < ieorgr Bolus’ store, and some gills wore long joints. Slips were* also made from unbleached muslin (called "gnawed home-spun-) thanks to my mother’s automatic sewing machine. Hie Imvs wore blue denim or blue- anil white deuiin bib overalls and denim jac kels with blue, cotton, home¬ made sliitls. Some children had stoic- shirts. I hc-v wore gray knee-high stock¬ ings with white toes, heels and tops and brown brogan shoes. They wore long joints in the winter, too. Miss Smith taught in the small room. It had one blackboard, three long- stained windows lac ing south and a coat c loset and shell. Miss Smith hard¬ ly had room for lie-i desk. On her crowded desk were books, a bottle of ink. an ink blotter, pencils, notebook papei. hei hint h in a paper bag and a Ih-II with a handle-, which each tc-ac her had. Miss Smith’s classes were small iH-causc- children olten dropped out. as lauiilies moved around a lot. There were lour in my graduating class in 1931». Miss Leonard taught second, third and fourth grades in the front large loom. Miss Smith taught lilllt. sixth and seventh grades. h»r a while the- teachers boarded with older l.unilies in the c nnnnunilv whose- c hildren were married and away Iioiii home. They walked to school. Rolesville Elementarv was a two- room school at liist; the smaller room was added on the south side later. A small porch ran middle wav across the front ol tin- school, with two long steps. There- were two doors, one opening into the huge front room. Miss Ix-onard’s room, the other into the small room. In the large room, a one stc-|mp stage was located right ol the entrance. It filled the front of t lie- room. Five long windows that were stained white let in the north light. All the- desks were hand-me-downs. Some were double with small slats foi the seat and back. Some had a single¬ wide board seal. There was a hole in the- i iglil top desk c ailed an inkwell lot a bottle ol ink. Ink pens had a rubbei tube in them and a lever on the side fen drawing ink into the tube. There were dried blobs ol ink over the- tops ol the de sks and knife c utouts. The desks sometimes fell apart while chil- clien were sitting on them. We used slats for spt ingboards. First-graders were* in the- back room. A door at the- back, on the left side- opened into this room. A blacklmard ran alongside the left wall and another blacklMiard hung on hinges across the liont wall. This blackboard could be lilted up to transform the two looms into an auditorium for morning devo¬ tions. chapel, plays, holiday programs i-i»*. ,4 ii.a. |«Н(г>« the Statc/Jul) im *4