Frank L. Stanton Elementary School is still standing!
From the mouth of babes.
What’s in a name? On a visit to my son’s home in north Atlanta, his grandson (my great grandson) and I had a pleasant talk. He (my great grandson) is living in my old home house and I was shocked to find out that he was going to my old elementary school. My son said “Yes Dad it is still standing. But they have renovated it a couple of times since you left.” I certainly hope so. When we moved to Atlanta our newly built neighborhood bordered on all-white neighborhoods and the nearest elementary school, Frank L. Stanton, was white only. So I had to go five miles away to E.R. Carter, an all-black school which was adjacent to the Morris Brown college campus. I spent two years there before Atlanta made Stanton all-black. So in 1953, my third grade year, I went to Stanton which was less than a mile away. I have no idea where the white students and teachers were sent because in those days the schools were totally segregated.
One bit of silliness was the debate over whether the school should be re-named. Frank L. Stanton had been a columnist for the Atlanta Constitution and was designated in 1925 as the first poet laureate of the state of Georgia. Some blacks insisted that the school be named after a black – like all the other black schools in the city (I later went to Booker T. Washington High School). Whites were also in favor of a name change as well, being aghast that black kids could go to a school named after a white person. However, because the Stanton family wanted the name to remain on the school, the school board – which was all white – opted to keep the name.
I told my great grandson that story and his reply was “That was stupid.” So it was.
haroldblackphd.com 
I hope your great grandson (and many others) can understand how humans can create so much division, hatred, and sorrow over such miniscule differences in our melanin. God made every one of us Imago Dei – in his image.
The little town I grew up in on the edge of Savannah is hardly there anymore due to the Ga Port Authority expansions (price of progress). My high school was 60/40 black/white, yet I was still Sr class president. I didn’t even have to offer to pay for pencils or composition books to buy votes…
Sometimes, I think back to this times and realize how ignorant I was to the poverty around me and the possibilities of racial division. Oft times, I wish I could still be so ignorant, and believe the divisions weren’t real, despite what my own eyes and experience tell me.
I’m glad to know Stanton still stands. My little parochial school in Savannah still stands but doesn’t operate as a school any longer. My high school was torn down and a new “multiplex” school built, with a master campus for elementary, middle and high school (no more “Junior high”).
At least they kept the name – Robert W. Groves high. At least there’s that…
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Memories. Memories.
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I hope your great grandson (and many others) can understand how humans can create so much division, hatred, and sorrow over such miniscule differences in our melanin. God made every one of us Imago Dei – in his image.
The little town I grew up in on the edge of Savannah is hardly there anymore due to the Ga Port Authority expansions (price of progress). My high school was 60/40 black/white, yet I was still Sr class president. I didn’t even have to offer to pay for pencils or composition books to buy votes…
Sometimes, I think back to this times and realize how ignorant I was to the poverty around me and the possibilities of racial division. Oft times, I wish I could still be so ignorant, and believe the divisions weren’t real, despite what my own eyes and experience tell me.
I’m glad to know Stanton still stands. My little parochial school in Savannah still stands but doesn’t operate as a school any longer. My high school was torn down and a new “multiplex” school built, with a master campus for elementary, middle and high school (no more “Junior high”).
At least they kept the name – Robert W. Groves high. At least there’s that…
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You could have us all reminiscing and crying on a Sunday morning!..
Eakin Elementary in Nashville still stands. I was on Safety Patrol in 4th grade. And yes, as an adult , I’ve visited the corner I was in charge of:
the top of an outside staircase, ridiculous and steep, and needed someone to say to the ‘kids’ , don’t run..
Politics : Nextdoor readers are upset that students left school to protest ICE? How about segregation now, segregation forever protests?
How about walkouts to protest the Vietnam War?..
Knoxvillians might be infuriated to know in 12th grade I could leave class, go to a carousel and watch the movie “Inherit the Wind”…
Maybe Knoxville parents would like that the movie INDOCTRINATED, teaching me to hate government interference in what could be learned, and government endorsement of religion.
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More memories. The peace and quiet of Sunday mornings lead one to remember our past.
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You know, yes , after thinking about it, school represented the fact that America represents turmoil. I find comfort in that, as it does help to face the future..
Plus the public teachers taught me life skills that I can use- and remember that teacher..
I went to visit one of my elementary school teachers; she was elderly but called me by name- and incredibly showed me the Kennedy dollar I gave her for Christmas…
In second grade.
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What did you say about having a cry on Sunday morning?
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