"OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE" : COLEMAN COLLEGE - the first "HBCU" founded in Northern Louisiana

When it comes to learning things, I have found that it's not so important that you know everything, just so long as you know and remember that you have the power to learn anything" -Garry O. Blanson I have decided to begin this week's article of "OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE" by informing everyone about " ANOTHER FORGOTTEN BLACK INSTITUTION of HIGHER LEARNING" that was established in Louisiana for "COLORED PEOPLE, IN THE LATE 1800s." Well, it was recently brought to my attention that several Black families currently living in Monroe, Louisiana have relatives who are connected to this "Historic Black College." You see, it seems that a local Black Pharmacist by the name of Dr. Raymond O. Pierce, who was the father of Mrs. Frances Pierce Reddix, civil rights activist, father-in-law of John I. Reddix D.D.S./ NAACP President, and father of Mrs. Arnetta Pierce Amin, the first Black Pharmacist in Monroe, whose pharmacy was located on the first floor of the Miller-Roy Building, and whose grand-daughter is Ollibeth Reddix D.D.S. of Monroe ; it was through a reliable source that I learned that Raymond Pierce and Mollie Jessie Frazier Glover, who was the mother of Mrs. Johnnie Glover Rodgers of Monroe, and the grandmother of Christopher Van Rodgers Jr. of Monroe were actually "CLASS-MATES" at COLEMAN COLLEGE!!! Not only was the school touted as being the first College for Colored People in Northern Louisiana, but it also has the distinction of being the first Louisiana school for Colored People where the school's founder and the students helped make the bricks, and also helped build the campus buildings of the school. For the record, Coleman College, was founded in 1887 by Oliver L. Coleman, "and the school was named after him as well." Despite being the son of an enslaved Colored couple from Canton, Mississippi, his parents taught him to believe in himself and always do his best! In 1889, a man by the name of C.R. Moore donated a 10-acre tract of land, and a building was built to house the school in the town of Gibsland Louisiana, in Bienville Parish. Eventually, the school's campus was expanded to include approximately 100 acres of quality land. As for funding for the school, area churches formed the "SPRINGVILLE MISSIONARY & EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION" to help keep the College afloat. In addition to the financial support received from the association, the Southern Baptist Church and the American Baptist Home Mission Society in Boston, Massachusetts also provided monetary grants and donations to help support the school. Equally important, when it came time to construct buildings for the school, Professor Oliver L. Coleman decided to follow the pattern that Booker T. Washington had started at Tuskegee Institute. Therefore, along with a brickmaker from Mansfield, Louisiana, Professor Coleman taught Coleman Students how to build a kiln, and how to mix, shape, and cure bricks. They took some of the red clay dirt that they found in the hills around the school, and made bricks to build the buildings for the school. By the way, Professor Coleman and Booker T. Washington were such good friends that in the same year that Booker T. Washington àdied, the well-known educator agreed to give a speech at the school. In 1915, Booker T. Washington went to Coleman College and gave an inspiring speech to a crowd of Black & White students, dignitaries, and local politicians. As time went on, a football team was formed and the team was known all over the state of Louisiana as the Coleman College Bulldogs. As a matter of fact, all the way up until the school officially closed, there was "a fierce football rivalry" between the Coleman College Bulldogs and Grambling College, the school that would later be known as "The Grambling State University Tigers!" Some say that the rivalry between the two schools was as great as the "Annual Bayou Classic" Football Game between Grambling & Southern is today! Although the school was able to survive the Great Depression, sometime between 1942 - 1943, the school closed at Gibsland, and reopened as a Bible College in Shreveport, Louisiana. After about another 10 years in existence, the Coleman Bible College closed for good around 1956. As for the original school site in Gibsland, Louisiana, sometime between 1944 - 1950, it was acquired by the Bienville Parish School System and named Gibsland Colored High School, and now it is named The Gibsland-Coleman-School Complex.