Destination for Dreams: The St. Paul SchoolPART I – Neylandville HistoryTIMESTAMP

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James Baldwin1969

2:04-2:12Baldwin’s Nigger: “. . .whereever I was in Africa . . . ., bill of sale. . . could go no further

BILL OF SALE:The Neylandville Story

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth32968/m1/1/sizes/?q=texas%20map

Neylandville, Texas Original footage, driving down hwy toward Neylandville—about 10 seconds?

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart1b.html

Originally an all-black community, Neylandville was established right before the Civil War.

Gwen Lawe, pointingMerge into civil war images

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aap/photo14.jpg

When James Brigham purchased his freedom from his owner in an adjacent Texas county and,

Overlay image on footage from current Neylandville

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aap/aapchur.html

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mssmisc&fileName=ody/ody0104/ody0104page.db&recNum=0&ite

mLink=/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart1b.html@0104&linkText=9

After saving enough to free his wife and one of their children, moved his family to the area.

Overlay image on footage from current Neylandville

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aap/aappolit.html

Gwen Lawe attended high school in Neylandville.

Gwen Lawe to the students about how her parents didn’t allow her to experience segregation, and how the family would travel

Gwendolyn M. Lawe,Dallas, Texas

11:10-11:17Gwen Lawe: “Until desegregation, African American communities were self sufficient.They had to be."

Malcolm X1962?

Malcolm X Our History was Destroyed by Slavery9:13:

“It is better for us to go to our own schools…to end

In Neylandville, long before the Emancipation Proclamation freed the rest of his family and neighbors, Brigham “managed to buy [several hundred] acres of unimproved farmland”

Overlay image on footage from current Neylandville

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aap/photo05.jpg

Focus on image in middle, panning left to right

After the Civil War, other former slaves also acquired land in the community.

Overlay image on footage from current Neylandville

Maybe start at Lincoln, then zoom out

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart5.html

Maybe start at Lincoln, then zoom out

Jim Conrad (oral history): 1:11:Eventually there was a community.

1:34: an all black, rural community.

http://www.waymarking.com/cat/details.aspx?f=1&guid=bad088bd-63b3-4053-a759-94a7611dd624&exp=True

“Crisis in Levittown,”Documentary (1957)

14:16-14:24 (Crisis in Levittown)

“For some the answer is tremendously complicated, tied up with a maze of past associations and present influences.”

Opal Pannell wasborn and raised inNeylandville, Texas

Childhood pics of Pannell? (OTHER CHILDREN FOR PLACEHOLDER?)

Opal Pannell,Commerce, Texas

Opal Pannell, OH, 12: 13:“My parents moved to Neylandville from Greenville.

Begin fading this in at above, when Pannell says “Neylandville from Greenville,” starting at top of book “Blackest land, whitest people and scrolling down to the “Greenville Texas” when she says “Greenville,”Then keep moving down the book until we get to “The untold story of my hometown,” then fade into next.

Opal Pannell (audio only)

12:26-“They were always looking for something better and at the time Neylandville was real popular.

Then keep moving down the book until we get to “The untold story of my hometown,” then fade into next.

14:30-14:34 (Crisis in Levittown)

“The past slips

through, despite what is said.”

Once a thriving, largely autonomous community, very little remains of Neylandville today.

“Neylandville and St. Paul School_0027.” Digital Collections, James G. Gee Library, Texas A&M University-Commerce. JPEG file. Fair Use.

“Neylandville and St. Paul School_0032.” Digital Collections, James G. Gee Library, Texas A&M University-Commerce. JPEG file. Fair Use.

“Neylandville and St. Paul School_0033.” Digital Collections, James G. Gee Library, Texas A&M University-Commerce. JPEG file. Fair Use.

“Neylandville and St. Paul School_0078.” Digital Collections, James G. Gee Library, Texas A&M University-Commerce. JPEG file. Fair Use.

Note: select just a few from these and see if you can’t pace it so it feels neither too fast nor too slow

8:15-8-27 (Crisis in Levittown) kill audio, leave

video until she says

“The whole thing centers around the word ‘integration’.”5:33 (Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, Pt. 1) James Earl Jones“Forget about race. That was the color of the system. But that didn’t define the system. It was about power.”

Fade to black

PART 2 – School historyTIMESTAMP

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In a separate but unequal time the Neylandville community managed to build and operate a school that served the rural areas of Hunt County and beyond.

“St. Paul High School.” Digital Collections, James G. Gee Library, Texas A&M University-Commerce. JPEG file. Fair Use.

Hunt county had white rural schools

“St. Paul School 1920.” Digital Collections, James G. Gee Library,

about 2 to 3 miles apart.

Texas A&M University-Commerce. JPEG file. Fair Use.

St. Paul on the other hand was the only rural black school in the county.

“St. Paul School 1923.” Digital Collections, James G. Gee Library, Texas A&M University-Commerce. JPEG file. Fair Use.

“St. Paul School 1925.” Digital Collections, James G. Gee Library, Texas A&M University-Commerce. JPEG file. Fair Use.

3 bus routes served the school, one of which encompassed 102 miles round trip.

“St. Paul School bus 1938, driver B. T. Thrash.” Digital Collections, James G. Gee Library, Texas A&M University-Commerce. JPEG file. Fair Use.

“St. Paul School bus.” Digital Collections, James G. Gee Library, Texas A&M University-Commerce. JPEG file. Fair Use.

“St. Paul School buses 1948.” Digital Collections, James G. Gee Library, Texas A&M University-Commerce. JPEG file. Fair Use.

Receiving less money and classroom materials than the local white schools St. Paul overcame tremendous odds.

“St. Paul School 1926.” Digital Collections, James G. Gee Library, Texas A&M University-Commerce. JPEG file. Fair Use.

“St. Paul School 1926-1.” Digital Collections, James G. Gee Library, Texas A&M University-Commerce. JPEG file. Fair Use.

United States v. State of Texas (1966) footnotes and data

The school was supported by a minority communityThe school was one of the central structures of a small tightly knit community that relied upon itself for everything necessary for a village to operate. With their own grocery market, churches, post office, etc. (list), the community even policed itself. There was no need for a sheriff here, the community relied upon a silent code within itself that ostracized members who did not keep within the moral boundaries of the understood behaviors.

“St. Paul School Debate Team.” Digital Collections, James G. Gee Library, Texas A&M University-Commerce. JPEG file. Fair Use.

“St. Paul School NFA and NHA groups.” Digital Collections, James G. Gee Library, Texas A&M University-Commerce. JPEG file. Fair Use.

Instead focus on some other theme emphasized throughout this video though not yet concretely enough.

(tweak narration below for clarity)

Bolstered by funds from the Rosenwald Foundation and guided by educational principles developed by Booker T Washington the St. Paul school became the

“St. Paul School Father – Son Banquet.” Digital Collections, James G. Gee Library, Texas A&M University-Commerce. JPEG file. Fair Use.

“St. Paul School unknown date - 1.” Digital Collections, James G. Gee

destination for the dreams for what are seen for generations of black students living in Hunt county during the mid-20th century.

Library, Texas A&M University-Commerce. JPEG file. Fair Use

In its heyday, the school’s basketball teams competed with many of Northeast Texas’ all-black schools. The main building of the campus was full of trophies won by the debate team, basketball team (other).

(

Use as placeholder for now. I will need to find an image to further suggest the national convo on “community near last century

The school thrived with a powerful spirit that permeated the halls of the school and gave its students an education that empowered them to become strong members of the community for decades to come.One of its graduates included Mrs. Opal Pannell who vividly remembers what life was like in Neylandville when she attended the St. Paul school as a young girl.

Here show images of Opal, maybe even video. We need to see if we can get our hands on one of the original yearbooks or photos. The copy in the library is not usable. If not, I will find pictures in the national archives that corresponde. Images of black debate teams, etc. from the 1930’s and 40’s

Although the St Paul school was a powerful stronghold of the

Neylandville community, there were still issues that affected the school.In the winter, the main building on campus was not heated.

Here use Gwen’s story about sitting in the office where it was warm, or in the home ec room because the ovens kept it warm.Narrator: Transportation to and from school was one of the key problems. The school busses were not always in good working condition.Here, Gwen’s story about being stuck on the bus for hours after schoolThe school lacked new textbooks and had to rely on old hand-me-downs from the neighboring white community schools.Typewriters that were used for the school’s business classes eventually became community property.Insert Gwen’s story about the typewriter’s being “borrowed”.The St Paul school was a stronghold

for the Neylandville community but it lacked the basic necessities such as textbooks, heating and air conditioning and proper bus transportation that was a given within the white schools during this period.

PART 3 – Neylandville history

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PART 4TIMESTAMP CAPTION NARRATION AUDI

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This is the last part where we will tie everything together by stating how desegregation broke up the community.

Gwen Lawe’s tour of the campus and her Oral History interview.At the end of the narrative, footage of Gwen Law describing how when the school closed, none of them knew where they were

going to go, or even if they were going to finish high school. She describes it as a scary time.