Montgomery High School alumni celebrate renovations
HENDERSON COUNTY, Tenn. — Alumni from Montgomery High School in Henderson County shared how they have transformed a building that used to separate people, into a cultural center they hope will bring the community together.
“In November of 2013, the auditorium was all with broken windows, torn curtains, dilapidated, totally under water,” said Gloria Carver, chair of the Montgomery School Alumni.
Carver took WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News Reporter Amanda Gerry on a tour of newly renovated Montgomery High School Friday, an institution that educated strictly African American students from 1950 to 1967, until it was closed due to desegregation.
“This was formally a classroom and, at the time that we were in school, it was actually a typing room,” Carver said. “Which meant there were lots of those old Smith-Corona typewriters.”
Now that room is an exercise room which will soon be available to the public at no charge. Carver says alumni like her, who meet every two years for a reunion, have been working to make what was once a place of separation into a place where all are welcome.
“It was important for those students that had graduated from 1950 to 1967 to have a place of their own,” Carver said.
Back in the 50’s and 60’s, Montgomery High School was the only high school African Americans could attend for miles around. Linda Jones Pope says she used to ride a bus three hours each way.
“33 miles one way; I rode 66 miles a day to high school for four years,” said Jones Pope.
But Jones Pope says that she never looked at going to Montgomery as a disadvantage.
“An education is the greatest thing you can have,” Jones Pope said. “Being here at Montgomery afforded me a lot of things I would not have gotten.”
The Montgomery Cultural Enrichment Center is owned by the school’s alumni and was renovated through fundraisers and donations.
Organizers say they hope to hold a variety of classes and events at the center. If you would like to find more information, you can visit montgomeryschoolalumni.com
