Panola community members are working to preserve their history of the North Sumter School. The North Sumter School was established in 1933 and was built primarily for the education of African-American children in the then legally segregated Alabama Black Belt. Coleman Center staff, Julia Brock, PhD, and the Alabama Humanities Foundation are supporting local efforts to remember and retain the school’s powerful history.
Beginning in January 2018, Panola community leadership has built a network of volunteers and technicians to support multiple public oral history days. Alumni and former attendees of the North Sumter School and its feeder schools interview one another in the round. Folks share their stories of Mt. Tabor School, St. John, Mt. Pleasant and the Salem School in addition to the first and second North Sumter School campuses.
On October 19, 2019, “Panolites” celebrated their Queens at their annual Panola Day Homecoming. Brock and Coleman Center staff tabled to connect with folks in town visiting family, to support their ongoing relationship with the North Sumter community, and to have fun!
Interested in more information on the North Sumter School Oral History Project? Join us on Thursday, November 21, 2019, at 5:00 P.M. and Saturday, January 11, 2020; come to the Panola Community Enrichment Center, 5816 Claude Jackson 35, Panola, AL 35477. Or reach out via info@colemanarts.org or (205) 392-2005.