MikeMooreMedia

Eden Rosenwald School 11.20.24

Raphiel Hampton, Director, Hampton Historical Foundation. Restoration and repurpose plans, family, alumni, open to the public Thursday, November 21, 11 am-1 pm, 202 Hairston Street, Eden.
www.HamptonHistorical.org

Duration:: 12m
Broadcast on:: 20 Nov 2024
Audio Format:: other

Mike Moore Media. Today I'm excited to be talking to Raphael Hampton. He is Director of Hampton Historical Foundation. We just met last night and he's here in the studio today to tell us about a very exciting project and historical property that's been here in the area for a long, long time and now getting back in the spotlight or in the spotlight, maybe for the first time, I guess. Raphael, he welcome, how are you? I'm great and thank you so much for having me. Got to meet you and Lisa with the Hampton Historical Foundation at last night's Eden City Council meeting. And I want to do very little talking because I want you to tell me what Hampton Historical Foundation is all about and the Rosenwald School here that you're working on. Sure, sure. So the Hampton Historical Foundation is a new foundation. We've only been in existence for about a year. And our main purpose is for the restoration of the historic Sunshine School that's here in Eden. And that is our primary focus. So at the beginning of 2025, we're going to be applying for various different grants and we're really starting our big push for fundraising to restore the school. They're schools and then they're Rosenwald schools. In the Sunshine School, you're talking about, tell us-- a little history on that, please. Sure, so as far as I can research, I believe the school was built around in 1920. And it was a segregated school here in Eden. And it's a school that most of my older relatives had attended and that was the only way that they can get any type of formal education. And they were all extremely proud about the fact that they attended the Sunshine School and that they were able to get educated. And so our goal is to restore the school and hopefully get a lot of information about some of the stories and the lives that they lived during that time period. You were born in, and we said Eden, but it really was at Leakesold Spray Draper. We're born here in the Tri-Cities, I guess we could say. Right, I think what we called it back in the day was Draper. I was born here in Draper at Morehead Hospital. OK, and you moved away, and so kind of give us a background on how this all came together with the school because your mom bought the school, you were telling me some years back. Yes, so my mom purchased the building probably about 50 years ago, and when she purchased the building at that time, I don't think she had any inclination of what we are doing now. It was purchased to be used as commercial space, and she had a couple of different ideas of renovating it, but she went through a couple of different business projects here and there. And because she doesn't live here in Eden, the building has gone to decay, and so now we're trying to do our best to bring it to its historic presence. And the school we're talking about, tell us where it is. It's at 202 Harrison Street, here in Eden. And it's kind of off East Stadium Drive. Correct. That area, yep, OK. And you still have relatives and family here. Oh, I have a ton of relatives and family here. It's almost like impossible for me to sneak up and Eden because everyone knows my car, everyone knows me, so yes, I do. OK. Well, I'm glad you're here visiting, and I know, as this all comes together, we'll be hearing more and more about it. But I know you have contacted some of the students there from that school, so tell us about that. Yes. So I've managed to locate probably about 15 living alumni from the Sunshine School. And many of them live right here in Rockingham County, some in the Virginia area. And then there's one young lady who lives, I believe, it's up in Silver Spring, Maryland. How difficult was this to track them down? It was-- in the beginning, I thought I was only going to find, like, maybe two or three. And the more I came down here and I talked with people, one person would know about another person, and then they'd start spreading the word. And even on this trip here, I found an additional alumni that it didn't have before. OK. Well, and everybody's connected some way, it seems, here, in the smaller communities. Most definitely. Yeah, OK. So you're looking at some of the students. And they're-- what age? They're getting on up in age now. Oh, yes they are. I think the youngest one is about 82. And the oldest one that's going to be attending is 95 or 96. Wow. Yes. And by attending, tell us what's happening tomorrow. So tomorrow, we're going to have what we call our alumni outreach. Basically, we're going to have them all. And we're going to show them the building. We're going to talk about our plans and objectives of what we're going to try to do when we renovate the building. But most important of all, we want them to share some of their stories about the time when they were at the Sunshine School and reconnect with each other. What kind of feedback are you getting when you finally track these people down? Many of them were a bit surprised that this is actually going on and that we're actually doing this. So they're all kind of excited about it. And each time I talk with some person about it, I hear a different or a new story about the Sunshine School. Yeah. And talking about the students and perhaps documenting their stories, everyone has a story or plural. Stories to tell. This is important to preserve that. Absolutely, absolutely. And that is probably my biggest priority because it's very time sensitive. These folks are getting up there in age, and I really want to get their stories told. And how will you go about doing that? Well, I'm hoping to get some funding through the grant money, where I can potentially work with some of the local historical black colleges that I've reached out to. So we've just started out on that. But that's our plan to see if we can get some additional professional help to help me document their stories. OK. This is a very, very important. Buildings have been lost through the years in all communities and schools. But the history with the Rosenwald schools-- can you maybe give us a little background on that too, please? Sure, the Rosenwald schools were built throughout the South. There was roughly around 6,000 of them that were built. And it was a partnership with Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington. And a lot of the majority of the money that was raised to build the schools actually came from the black community. And of course, Rosenwald, being a big executive at Sears and Roebuck, he donated a tremendous amount as well. And the idea was about that you had to have some skin in the game in terms of financing and building the buildings. And that was one of the reasons why I believe that the black folks who went to those schools had so much pride in it, because they actually wanted to learn. And they invested the money to build the structures. Sure, yeah. OK. Now, this gathering tomorrow, that's open to the public. Absolutely, absolutely. So people that have maybe never heard about this school, what an opportunity is, is a rare opportunity to look inside that school and take a tour and just kind of see what it's all about. Absolutely. So we're hoping next year at this time we will have kicked the can a little further down the road and we'll have more things to share about where we are. Yeah, OK. So tell us again the location and what time on this Raphael? Sure, sure. So it's going to be tomorrow at 11 AM. The location is going to be at 202-Hirston Street in Eden, more in the Draper section. OK. And you're looking at grants and some things, fundraising efforts. And so this is just getting started. You're saying the foundation really about a year organized now, so this is just getting off the ground floor, so to speak. But if someone wants to find out more, get additional information, what's the best way to do that? So we have a website that you can reach out to us and also my email and phone number. So when you show up at the school tomorrow, we're going to have a lot of brochures and information about that. So again, the website is hamptonhistoricalfoundation.org. And you can reach out to us there. But again, we would definitely be looking forward to share all of the information that we have. OK. This is very important that we find out more about this and how we can perhaps be a part of this in restoring and revitalizing this property, this historic property. And down the road, what do you kind of-- as your mom, what's the vision here for this? Yeah, so the vision down the road is we want to have the building restored to its original form. We want to have photos, visuals of how things were at that time. We want to have a little documentation so you'll actually be able to hear the stories from the actual alumni who attended the school. And we want to be able to give back to the community. So the structure will be available for people to come almost like a museum of that time period. OK, again, we can get more information at hamptonhistorical.org. Yeah, and we can be a part of this, maybe donate and help with the fundraising. Absolutely. We would greatly appreciate that. OK. Again, this meeting tomorrow at the school. And if you've never heard of this before, you think, oh, this sounds really interesting. It's at 202 Hairsdon Street in Eden. And that's 11 AM to 1 PM tomorrow. Is there anything else you'd like to add, anything we need to say? Well, I was really pleased of going to the city council meeting in Eden. And I was incredibly impressed about all of the help and outreach that the community has given and their support on what we're doing. Once people find out about this, there'll be even more interest. And who knows? Maybe we'll get some more of these former students. Oh, yes. I'd love to see if you can get one of the former students here. Yeah. Well, we'll try to do that, too, and bring them in. OK. I'm so glad we got to meet. This is something that I didn't know about until late yesterday. But this is important that we do this, isn't it? Oh, absolutely, absolutely. And it's very time sensitive, because these alumni range in age from around '82 to '95. And we really want to share their stories. OK. Now, we've given the website. We'll give that out again. That's hamptonhistorical.org. And can you give us a phone number there? Please, Rachel. Sure, sure. The best number to reach, you can call me directly if you need. It's 202-460-9360. OK. 202-460-9360. OK. Raphael Hampton, he is Director Treasurer of the Hampton Historical Foundation. I'm excited to find out about this. And we'll learn more as this all comes together. Again, thank you so much for having me. Thank you, Raphael. [BLANK_AUDIO]