OUR RICH BLACK HERITAGE : UNION BAPTIST HIGH/ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FOR NEGRO CHILDREN IN MONROE, LOUISIANA IN THE 1950s

 

"THOSE WHO CANNOT REMEMBER THE PAST ARE CONDEMNED TO REPEAT IT" – George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905 It's amazing how not being born during a certain era can keep Black People in Monroe, Louisiana from knowing things that are in plain sight. Take for instance,The Neville Jr. High School that was once named, "ROBERT E. LEE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL." Well, I discovered that back in the 1950s, "THERE  USED TO BE A SCHOOL IN MONROE FOR NEGRO CHILDREN CALLED, UNION BAPTIST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, WHICH WAS LOCATED AT THE SAME LOCATION AS THE CURRENT NEVILLE JR. HIGH SCHOOL!" Last year, I discovered that an unknown School for Negro Children use to be located in Monroe,"NEAR A LITTLE KNOWN NEGRO NEIGHBORHOOD NAMED, BRIGHT OAK." Well, the name of the unknown School turned out to be,"UNION BAPTIST HIGH/ELEMENTARY SCHOOL." Naturally, I went and Googled Union School for Negroes in Monroe, Louisiana, and clicked on one of the  links that pulled up. By the way, the link took me to a site where there was a map showing where Union  School used to be located in Monroe. Low and behold, it was exactly where "ROBERT E. LEE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL," which is currently Neville Jr. High School, was located in Monroe...my oh my!!! You see, within a few decades, Black and White Citizens in Monroe and West Monroe had all but forgotten that "UNION BAPTIST HIGH SCHOOL" FOR NEGRO CHILDREN" had ever existed in Monroe! Well, ain't that a biscuit??? In closing,      I would like to challenge all Black Families living in Monroe and West Monroe to start taking time out to learn more about their family history in Monroe and West Monroe as well as the local "BLACK HISTORY" that transpired locally, such as the gruesome lynching of a Colored Man that took place in front of the "COLORED KNIGHTS of PYTHIAS MEETING HALL BUILDING, "AT 1101 DESIARD STREET IN MONROE ; the lynching of over 200 Black People in front of St. Frances Hospital ; the bodies of Negroes that were tossed into the Ouachita River by the "KLU KLUX KLAN" and other White Citizens of Monroe ; and the Delta Ouachita Vocational Training School that used to located next to Carroll High School, on Desiard Street in Monroe. Finally, I would like to say, just because Governor Jeff Landry has banned the teaching of "CRITICAL RACE THEORY" at the Schools in Our Black Communities, doesn't mean that we can't teach it in Our Black homes, churches, and Communities in Monroe!

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