New Life For Dorchester Academy 1932-1940

New Life For Dorchester Academy 1932-1940 (HM5R9)

Location: Midway, GA 31320 Liberty County
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Country: United States of America
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N 31° 48.031', W 81° 27.891'

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Dorchester Academy

— Museum Of African American History —

J. Roosevelt Jenkins, who was DorchesterAcademy's assistant principal, scienceteacher and athletic director, replacedElizabeth Moore as principal after her deathin 1932. He continued to strengthen theschool's curriculum and the thrivingathletic programs. During his administration,Dorchester Academy was in its academicprime. In 1934 the entire graduating classwas admitted to college. Jenkins made sure the school kept its Georgia accreditation.In doing so, Dorchester Academy earnedthe coveted "A rating" from the SouthernAssociation of Colleges and SecondarySchools. In 1934, the school was classifiedas a Group I Georgia accredited high school.This meant it was one of " the best schoolsin teaching staff, equipment or laboratory,library and buildings, and three fourths ofthe academic teachers holding degrees."The boys' dormitory, which burned downin 1932, was rebuilt and formally dedicated as the Elizabeth B. Moore Hall

During this time, public school opportunitieswere growing for African Americans in LibertyCounty. The Board of Education had, untilthen, neglected to adequately fund AfricanAmerican public education. With the creationand growth of the Liberty County Training(LCTS) in the 1930s, accredited, public, adequately funded, county administeredAfrican American high school education wasnow available. Because of this the AmericanMissionary Association (AMA) closedDorchester Academy in the spring of 1940because they did not want to duplicate thework of the local public schools. All of the1940 twelfth grade students voted to receivetheir diplomas from Dorchester Academyand the remaining students were distributedamong the other African American publicschools in the county.

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Boys' Dormitory
Elizabeth B. Moore Hall
photograph taken 2004
Most of Dorchester Academy's old buildingswere torn down by the AMA in 1945 becauseof their poor condition. They decided itwould be cost effective to remodel the newbrick boys dormitory. The AMA contributed$10 for every $1 raised in Liberty County,up to $20,000. Locals organized the Dorchester Cooperative Building Fund Drive and raised $2,000 to save ElizabethMoore Hall.
Details
HM NumberHM5R9
Tags
Year Placed2004
Placed ByCity of Flemington
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Monday, October 13th, 2014 at 11:39am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)17R E 455997 N 3518418
Decimal Degrees31.80051667, -81.46485000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 31° 48.031', W 81° 27.891'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds31° 48' 1.86" N, 81° 27' 53.46" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)912
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 104 Lewis Frasier Rd, Midway GA 31320, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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