BLACK COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
Prior to school integration, three Black community schools served Maury County’s Black students: College Hill School, Carver-Smith High School, and Clarke Training School.
College Hill School
Carver-Smith High School
Clarke Training School
These schools were the fruit of hard work and dedication on the part of the Black community, and they played a vital role in educating and empowering Black students.
All three schools closed their doors by the 1960s, a major blow to the Black community. When the schools closed, Black families lost any of the voice and power they had gained in the school system. Suddenly, their influence and rights disappeared. In addition, the closing of these schools deprived Black students of their role models and mentors.
CPJI is committed to keeping the stories of African American education in Maury County alive and ensuring that they remain a vital part of the county’s history.
COLLEGE HILL SCHOOL
College Hill School, originally known as Colored Public School, was established in 1881—just decades after the Civil War—as the first public school for Black students in Columbia. This school was a source of pride for the Black community, blessed with an excellent school staff. Though College Hill School did not receive the same resources white schools in the community did, its dedicated staff and students overcame these challenges to access a quality education. The school graduated its last class in 1949. In 2014, College Hill School received a historical marker thanks to the efforts of the Historical Markers Project sponsored by the African American Heritage Society of Maury County.
CARVER-SMITH HIGH SCHOOL
Carver-Smith High School taught Black students from 1950 to 1969. Named after George Washington Carver, the Black inventor and scientist, and Stella Howse Smith, a Maury County educator, the school was literally built through the hard work and commitment of Columbia’s Black community, who faced resistance from white residents.
Columbia’s Black community launched a fundraising effort to purchase the Carver-Smith High School property on East End Street and began building the school in 1947. The school had 12 classrooms, a gymnasium and a vocational shop.
In 1969 with school integration, Carver-Smith High School was closed, and its students were enrolled in the predominately white Columbia Central High School.
CLARKE TRAINING SCHOOL
Known first as the Mount Pleasant Colored School, Clarke Training School opened in the early 1920s to both elementary and high school students. As a Rosenwald School, Clarke Training School was funded by Booker T. Washington, and the president of Sears & Roebuck, Julius Rosenwald, to provide education for Black children in the rural South.
By the 1940s, Clarke Training School began offering athletic programs, such as football and basketball. In 1969, the school, which had then changed its name to Clarke Elementary and High School, was closed due to integration.