Dublin Core
Title
Lakeland Community Group Conversation April 27, 2011
Subject
Education and Lakeland
Description
This is an audio recording of an open panel discussion about Lakeland and the surrounding areas’ history of African American education, which allowed all participants to contribute when compelled. Participants included former residents of Lakeland and students of the Lakeland School, as well as students from the University of Maryland American Studies program under Dr. Mary C. Sies. Professor Sies introduced the focus of the 2011 project on education before the beginning of the discussion. The following dialogue included how education played an integral role in the Lakeland community. The participants discussed their experiences of going to grade school during times of segregation and then integration/desegregation.
Creator
University of Maryland Social and Ethnic Issues in Historic Preservation Class, Spring 2011, and Lakeland Community Heritage Project
Source
[no text]
Publisher
Department of American Studies, University of Maryland, and Lakeland Community Heritage Project
Date
Recorded April 27, 2011
Contributor
Interviewees: Monroe Dennis, Maxine Gross, Pamela D. Boardley, Arthur Dock, Leonard Smith, Violetta Sharps-Jones, Avis D. Matthews Davis, Julia Pitts, Earlene Williams, James W. Edwards III, Pearl Lee Campbell Edwards, Derrick Gray
Rights
[no text]
Relation
[no text]
Format
MP3
Language
English
Type
[no text]
Identifier
[no text]
Coverage
[no text]
Contribution Form
Online Submission
[no text]
Posting Consent
[no text]
Submission Consent
[no text]
Contributor is Creator
[no text]
Oral History Item Type Metadata
Interviewer
[no text]
Interviewee
[no text]
Location
[no text]
Transcription
The Lakeland Community Panel Discussion on Education was held on April 27, 2011 with Dr. Sies’s American Studies Social and Ethnic Issues in Historic Preservation class and members of the Lakeland and surrounding communities. Panel members included Monroe Dennis, Maxine Gross, Pamela D. Boardley, Arthur Dock, Leonard Smith, Violetta Sharps-Jones, Avis D. Matthews Davis, Julia Pitts, Earlene Williams, James W. Edwards III, Pearl Lee Campbell Edwards, and Derrick Gray.
All the panel participants remember the great quality of education that the Lakeland community encouraged, but all through unique individual experiences. Those that went to Lakeland schools before desegregation in the 1970s remember the exemplary involvement of teachers who would commute and live in the community for the workweek. These black teachers could not find living accommodation outside of Lakeland, and so became very close and involved with the community when staying in neighborhood homes. Mr. Monroe Dennis, stepson of Mr. Leonard Smith, remembers similar practices by his teachers growing up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and also going to a segregated black high school. This close community involvement of black teachers, during the 1950s and 1960s, before desegregation, provided an elite education for those young black students at the time.
The older panel participants also remember lacking facilities and materials in their segregated black schools, and how the teachers would compensate by hand writing each student's lessons and further provide their own teaching materials. Their books would always come second-hand from other schools from as far away as Laurel. Yet, the students received a great education, and became enthused to learn, because of the teachers’ distinguished efforts. They called the Lakeland School an “egg carton†school, because it had one long hall with the classrooms stacked on either side. The older panel members remember every one of their Lakeland School teachers with great fondness and pride in the education they received from them. They remember being taught the poetry of Langston Hughes and Paul Laurence Dunbar, clearly part of African American heritage that was outside of the normal PG County curriculum. The teachers of the 1950s and 1960s went above and beyond with the support of parents and the rest of the Lakeland community to push that generation of students to go to Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs).
One of the older panel participants, Mr. Leonard Smith, remembers only having three black high schools to choose from in the area, which were Lakeland, Fairmount Heights, and Upper Marlboro. He chose Lakeland, and after graduating was promised a spot on the University of Maryland College Park (UMDCP) football team only to not get accepted due to his race. Mr. James Edwards had a similar experience with UMDCP, and both men ended up attending Maryland State University, now called University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Unfortunately, all the panel participants remember how difficult it was for young black men to be recognized for their educational achievements versus their athletic abilities.
Increasingly hard times occurred for black students when forcefully integrated through the 1970s court-ordered busing programs that brought Lakelanders further away in the county to desegregated schools such as Parkdale and Northwestern High School, as well as Greenbelt Junior High. During the times of busing, the three or four busses would also go to at least five communities between Brentwood and Laurel and bring them to Lakeland High School. Mrs. Pearl Lee Campbell Edwards was one of the first panel members to attend a desegregated Northwestern High School with about 200 other black students and over 2000 white students. Although, Mrs. Edwards remembers her high school experience as positive, she and others reflect on how the Lakeland School and other previously segregated black schools became obsolete after desegregation.
Particularly, young black male students who had done fine at Lakeland School were very suddenly being identified as having learning disabilities and often were put into special education classrooms or dropped out. Two of the youngest panel participants, Ms. Avis Matthews and Ms. Maxine Gross, comment on their experience as young students during the 1970s integration as being very different than that of segregated Lakeland. They believe that as the number of students in the classroom went up in these desegregated schools, so did the potential for animosity. Attending the integrated Greenbelt Junior High, Ms. Gross remembers being bullied by other black students from other neighborhoods as not “talk[ing] black†and being “black enough.†Conversely, Ms. Avis Matthew’s remembers being told by a teacher that, “They should not act their color.†Ms. Gross also recalls Lakeland School changing for the worse after principal Mr. Smith retired, and the quality of teachers going downhill. The panel members suggest that these negative changes, combined with the lack of improvement for the facilities and materials of those historically black segregated schools during integration, led so many to be judged as “worthlessâ€. This included the Lakeland School that was eventually closed down in the mid-1980s.
Mrs. Edwards having experienced the beginning of integration as a student, continued her experience of the desegregation as a teacher. She recalls that black teachers would not be accepted to UMD College Park for their graduate degrees, so the P.G. County Public School Superintendant allowed the teachers to take courses up at Columbia University or New York University, or would have a professor fly down to teach them. It wasn’t until the 1960s that a black student could enroll in the graduate school of education at UMDCP. She remembers during this time period being at a teachers’ meeting in which her principal said they needed to do something for the black students who came from areas of “no cultureâ€. She then went on to describe her risky protesting against that statement, and educating her fellow white teachers about Lakeland’s rich culture. She says, “These were really enlightening times with integration. It was an eye opening for the teachers. It was an eye opening for the students. It was an eye-opening for the parents.†Most white people, at the time, simply did not understand that a black community like Lakeland could be so enriched socially and educationally.
Many of the panel members cite the churches, specifically Embry AME and First Baptist, as being integral in encouraging Lakeland’s students to enrich themselves with education, especially through Sunday school. The churches were the center of the community. Regardless of what faith you were, you were under the churches’ supervision and educational encouragement. Ms. Gross remembers Ms. Desi, Embry AME’s Sunday school superintendant, giving a bible to each graduating high school student with the expectation that they were going to college and needed their own to bring with them. The older generation of the community wanted to see the younger generation not be required to physically labor as hard as they had. Ms. Maxine Gross remembers one of the great Lakeland teachers, Ms. Edna W. Mantel, saying, “You are in here to learn. I don’t want you leaving my English class [to] split earth.†It was only until after desegregation that this level of heritage education and enrichment was lost. The panel participants all seem to agree that issues with African American educational achievement today in the P.G. County public schools seems to be connected with the current generation of parents that are even younger than Ms. Avis Matthews and Ms. Maxine Gross. It was their generations that began to go to integrated colleges and universities rather than encouraged to go to HBCUs. This youngest parental generation did not experience Lakeland before urban renewal and, therefore, missed out on the cultural and heritage enrichment of the early segregated black schools and HBCUs as was received by the older generations. Many panel members point to this lack of education and pride as being the source of disrespect in both the parents and their young students currently in the public schools.
Ms. Violetta Jones identified a central concern of the panel’s discussion most clearly in saying that Americans should know that in history segregated blacks were functioning sustainably and not waiting for desegregation and integration. She, as a representative of the panel and Lakeland Community Heritage Project, wants others to achieve a better understanding of African American history and their students’ experiences during the time of desegregation. This history needs to include segregated black schools, such as the one in Lakeland that was so greatly loved, but not seen as valuable by outsiders because of the low quality of the facility and educational materials. Yet, the devoted teachers made up for those shortcomings, and pushed their students to a great level of academic achievement not had by today’s youth. It is clear that all the panel participants would like to see current African American students given the same amount of enrichment and educational encouragement as they received.
All the panel participants remember the great quality of education that the Lakeland community encouraged, but all through unique individual experiences. Those that went to Lakeland schools before desegregation in the 1970s remember the exemplary involvement of teachers who would commute and live in the community for the workweek. These black teachers could not find living accommodation outside of Lakeland, and so became very close and involved with the community when staying in neighborhood homes. Mr. Monroe Dennis, stepson of Mr. Leonard Smith, remembers similar practices by his teachers growing up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and also going to a segregated black high school. This close community involvement of black teachers, during the 1950s and 1960s, before desegregation, provided an elite education for those young black students at the time.
The older panel participants also remember lacking facilities and materials in their segregated black schools, and how the teachers would compensate by hand writing each student's lessons and further provide their own teaching materials. Their books would always come second-hand from other schools from as far away as Laurel. Yet, the students received a great education, and became enthused to learn, because of the teachers’ distinguished efforts. They called the Lakeland School an “egg carton†school, because it had one long hall with the classrooms stacked on either side. The older panel members remember every one of their Lakeland School teachers with great fondness and pride in the education they received from them. They remember being taught the poetry of Langston Hughes and Paul Laurence Dunbar, clearly part of African American heritage that was outside of the normal PG County curriculum. The teachers of the 1950s and 1960s went above and beyond with the support of parents and the rest of the Lakeland community to push that generation of students to go to Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs).
One of the older panel participants, Mr. Leonard Smith, remembers only having three black high schools to choose from in the area, which were Lakeland, Fairmount Heights, and Upper Marlboro. He chose Lakeland, and after graduating was promised a spot on the University of Maryland College Park (UMDCP) football team only to not get accepted due to his race. Mr. James Edwards had a similar experience with UMDCP, and both men ended up attending Maryland State University, now called University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Unfortunately, all the panel participants remember how difficult it was for young black men to be recognized for their educational achievements versus their athletic abilities.
Increasingly hard times occurred for black students when forcefully integrated through the 1970s court-ordered busing programs that brought Lakelanders further away in the county to desegregated schools such as Parkdale and Northwestern High School, as well as Greenbelt Junior High. During the times of busing, the three or four busses would also go to at least five communities between Brentwood and Laurel and bring them to Lakeland High School. Mrs. Pearl Lee Campbell Edwards was one of the first panel members to attend a desegregated Northwestern High School with about 200 other black students and over 2000 white students. Although, Mrs. Edwards remembers her high school experience as positive, she and others reflect on how the Lakeland School and other previously segregated black schools became obsolete after desegregation.
Particularly, young black male students who had done fine at Lakeland School were very suddenly being identified as having learning disabilities and often were put into special education classrooms or dropped out. Two of the youngest panel participants, Ms. Avis Matthews and Ms. Maxine Gross, comment on their experience as young students during the 1970s integration as being very different than that of segregated Lakeland. They believe that as the number of students in the classroom went up in these desegregated schools, so did the potential for animosity. Attending the integrated Greenbelt Junior High, Ms. Gross remembers being bullied by other black students from other neighborhoods as not “talk[ing] black†and being “black enough.†Conversely, Ms. Avis Matthew’s remembers being told by a teacher that, “They should not act their color.†Ms. Gross also recalls Lakeland School changing for the worse after principal Mr. Smith retired, and the quality of teachers going downhill. The panel members suggest that these negative changes, combined with the lack of improvement for the facilities and materials of those historically black segregated schools during integration, led so many to be judged as “worthlessâ€. This included the Lakeland School that was eventually closed down in the mid-1980s.
Mrs. Edwards having experienced the beginning of integration as a student, continued her experience of the desegregation as a teacher. She recalls that black teachers would not be accepted to UMD College Park for their graduate degrees, so the P.G. County Public School Superintendant allowed the teachers to take courses up at Columbia University or New York University, or would have a professor fly down to teach them. It wasn’t until the 1960s that a black student could enroll in the graduate school of education at UMDCP. She remembers during this time period being at a teachers’ meeting in which her principal said they needed to do something for the black students who came from areas of “no cultureâ€. She then went on to describe her risky protesting against that statement, and educating her fellow white teachers about Lakeland’s rich culture. She says, “These were really enlightening times with integration. It was an eye opening for the teachers. It was an eye opening for the students. It was an eye-opening for the parents.†Most white people, at the time, simply did not understand that a black community like Lakeland could be so enriched socially and educationally.
Many of the panel members cite the churches, specifically Embry AME and First Baptist, as being integral in encouraging Lakeland’s students to enrich themselves with education, especially through Sunday school. The churches were the center of the community. Regardless of what faith you were, you were under the churches’ supervision and educational encouragement. Ms. Gross remembers Ms. Desi, Embry AME’s Sunday school superintendant, giving a bible to each graduating high school student with the expectation that they were going to college and needed their own to bring with them. The older generation of the community wanted to see the younger generation not be required to physically labor as hard as they had. Ms. Maxine Gross remembers one of the great Lakeland teachers, Ms. Edna W. Mantel, saying, “You are in here to learn. I don’t want you leaving my English class [to] split earth.†It was only until after desegregation that this level of heritage education and enrichment was lost. The panel participants all seem to agree that issues with African American educational achievement today in the P.G. County public schools seems to be connected with the current generation of parents that are even younger than Ms. Avis Matthews and Ms. Maxine Gross. It was their generations that began to go to integrated colleges and universities rather than encouraged to go to HBCUs. This youngest parental generation did not experience Lakeland before urban renewal and, therefore, missed out on the cultural and heritage enrichment of the early segregated black schools and HBCUs as was received by the older generations. Many panel members point to this lack of education and pride as being the source of disrespect in both the parents and their young students currently in the public schools.
Ms. Violetta Jones identified a central concern of the panel’s discussion most clearly in saying that Americans should know that in history segregated blacks were functioning sustainably and not waiting for desegregation and integration. She, as a representative of the panel and Lakeland Community Heritage Project, wants others to achieve a better understanding of African American history and their students’ experiences during the time of desegregation. This history needs to include segregated black schools, such as the one in Lakeland that was so greatly loved, but not seen as valuable by outsiders because of the low quality of the facility and educational materials. Yet, the devoted teachers made up for those shortcomings, and pushed their students to a great level of academic achievement not had by today’s youth. It is clear that all the panel participants would like to see current African American students given the same amount of enrichment and educational encouragement as they received.
Original Format
Audio recording.
Duration
2 hours, 0 minutes, and 39 seconds
Bit Rate/Frequency
[no text]
Time Summary
[no text]