'It was like their little oasis'

John Richardson never went to school, and his wife, Clara, completed only seventh grade.

"My parents were determined we'd all graduate from high school," said 81-year-old Lillian Richardson Sizer, who, along with her four siblings, did just that in segregated Caroline County.

The Richardson kids attended Union High School in Bowling Green, and Sizer graduated from there in 1946. It was the only high school in the county for black students until 1969, when Caroline schools integrated.

Times were difficult, but the teachers and parents created a nurturing atmosphere at Union where personal growth was encouraged and academic excellence was all but expected.

The school's rich history, which stretches back to the early 1900s, is no secret to those who attended or worked there.

But a Maryland genealogist with roots in Caroline County hopes to educate others about the school's impact through a book.

Marion Woodfork Simmons first started talking to Caroline residents while researching her family's connections to the county. Her immediate ancestors left Caroline in the 1880s, but she has plenty of extended family still there.

Many of the people she interviewed mentioned Union High School and its importance within the African-American community.

She decided to write a book about the school, and has interviewed at least 50 graduates and former employees so far.

"I think the thing that impresses me most is everybody talks about the teachers and the principals. They say, 'The teachers really cared about us--not just academically but they cared about the whole student.' Teachers had very high expectations of them," said Simmons.

"Society was telling them they were inferior. They had an environment where they were nurtured and encouraged, and they just flourished. It was like their little oasis," she said. "Adults put their arms around the children and protected them. The school, the parents, the church did a lot to counter all the negative."

The county's first high school for black students was founded by the Caroline Sunday School Union, an association of Baptist churches.

Called Bowling Green Industrial Academy, it opened in 1903 with five students and one teacher. By the time it was integrated in 1969, it was one of the largest high schools in Caroline.

In 1914, the union donated the school to the Caroline County School Board, which called it Caroline County Training School. Fifteen years later, it became a fully accredited four-year high school, and its name was changed to Union High to honor its founders.

In the early days, there were no buses. So African-American families living near the school off U.S. 301 rented rooms to students from other areas of the county during the week.

When buses finally started serving Union, they were often driven by students, recalls 1969 graduate Calvin Taylor, who went on to teach in the county's schools and serve on the Board of Supervisors.

"If a child had a license, they drove the school buses. And you just did what they told you," said Taylor, who added that young bus drivers weren't above pulling up to a misbehaving student's house and dropping him off for his parents to deal with.

Around 1952 the school was rebuilt, and that building now serves as the county's Community Services Center. But the original school was a lot more primitive, Simmons said.

A wood stove heated the place, and on the coldest days, students set fires in tin barrels and crowded around. Supplies--everything from athletic equipment to frogs used for dissection--were tight and often provided through donations from parents and teachers.

"Some people had to walk two to three miles to get to a bus stop," Simmons said. "That's the point that younger generations need to see. Now, kids take going to school for granted. Their grandparents and great-grandparents had to fight just to go to school."

Teachers expected their students to work hard, and no one wanted to be the weak link.

"Not doing your work just wasn't an option," said Taylor, whose father, a Union High grad, was as strict as his teachers. "He'd even make up tests for us, and they were always harder than the teachers' tests."

Stepping out of line meant getting assigned to the dreaded litter patrol--or worse, a teacher might stop by your home to "chat" with your parents.

"They were very no-nonsense," said Taylor. "But you know, they really cared about you."

They urged students to go on to college, and often helped them get jobs and scholarships. Aside from academics, the school made a name for itself when it came to extracurricular activities.

News accounts of the day repeatedly mention the marching and concert bands' victories at district competitions and the baseball team's near-total domination on the field.

"The environment was sort of like a family," said the Rev. Joseph Dobbins, 70, a pitcher and left fielder who graduated in 1959.

He was the first of his parents' nine children to earn a high school diploma, something he did at the urging of longtime principal George B. Ruffin.

"He was tough, but he was good," said Dobbins, who ultimately attended seminary, earning bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees.

Sizer participated in chorus and drama at Union High and attended Virginia Union University for a year before getting married. Recalling her experiences at Union for Simmons' book was fun, she said, and she hopes people enjoy reading about the school's history.

"I think it's wonderful she's doing all this research," she said. "It should be known, the struggle people went through to provide an education."

Union High's teachers instilled respect and courage in their students, said Taylor. Many of those students used what they learned there to better their communities, he said.

For instance, Fredericksburg City Councilman Hashmel Turner and Harvey Latney, the Caroline com- monwealth's attorney for 30 years, attended Union, Taylor said.

"I think that school built character. There are lots of successful stories about families who have roots in that building," he said. "I'm sure if we go back and look, a number of people who have made a number of contributions to this community went to that school. The education students got in those days still impacts us to this day, and that's something to be proud of."

Maryland resident Marion Woodfork Simmons, whose ancestors are from Caroline County, is working on a book about Union High School, the county's African-American high school for nearly 70 years.

Simmons is interested in talking to people who attended or worked at the school. She can be reached at 301/549-3659, by e-mail at marion@woodfork genealogy.com or by mail at Box 505, Burtonsville, Md. 20866.

TODAY: Former Caroline high school has long and proud pre-integration history.

TOMORROW: Some of Union High's graduates share their memories.

'It was like their little oasis'

May 24, 2010 12:36 am