By Garry Blanson
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905
It’s amazing how not being born during a certain era can keep Black people in Monroe, Louisiana, from knowing things that are in plain sight. Take, for instance, Neville Jr. High School, which was once named Robert E. Lee Elementary School. Well, I discovered that back in the 1950s, there used to be a school in Monroe for Negro children called Union Baptist Elementary School, which was located at the same site as the current Neville Jr. High School.
Last year, I discovered that an unknown school for Negro children used to be located in Monroe near a little-known Negro neighborhood named Bright Oak. Well, the name of the unknown school turned out to be Union Baptist High/Elementary School.
Naturally, I went and Googled Union School for Negroes in Monroe, Louisiana, and clicked on one of the links that appeared. By the way, the link took me to a site where there was a map showing where Union School used to be located in Monroe. Lo and behold, it was exactly where Robert E. Lee Elementary School, which is currently Neville Jr. High School, was located in Monroe… my oh my!
You see, within a few decades, Black and White citizens in Monroe and West Monroe had all but forgotten that Union Baptist High School for Negro children had ever existed in Monroe. Well, ain’t that a biscuit?
In closing, I would like to challenge all Black families living in Monroe and West Monroe to start taking time to learn more about their family history in Monroe and West Monroe, as well as the local Black history that transpired locally, such as the gruesome lynching of a Colored man that took place in front of the Colored Knights of Pythias Meeting Hall Building at 1101 Desiard Street in Monroe; the lynching of over 200 Black people in front of St. Frances Hospital; the bodies of Negroes that were tossed into the Ouachita River by the Ku Klux Klan and other White citizens of Monroe; and the Delta Ouachita Vocational Training School that used to be located next to Carroll High School on Desiard Street in Monroe.
Finally, I would like to say that just because Governor Jeff Landry has banned the teaching of “Critical Race Theory” in schools in our Black communities does not mean that we cannot teach it in our Black homes, churches, and communities in Monroe.
