THE THOMASTON STAR SCHOOL

In recent months the Newsletter has
put a spotlight on education. Much of
this has dealt with the history of R. E.
Lee Institute.   During the past two
months articles on one ofUpson's pio-
neer teachers, John M. Greene, have
also been featured.

The photograph above is the only one
known to exist of the community's most
well known early school for children of
African-American descent, the Starr
School.

It is believed that the first post-Civil
War schools for black children were
started by the Macedonia Baptist and
the St. Mary's Methodist churches.
Later, with very meager resources, this
building was erected. The Starr School
was incorporated in January 1883 and
this may indicate the time for construc-
tion. This was about the same time the
white population were building their
two-story school house.

Because of the way tax money was
divided between the races, the white
population got vastly more money from
the sale of school bonds than did the
black community. In those days it was
divided on the basis of the amount of
tax money collected on property owned
by the black or white people. Obvi-
ously, so soon after the Civil War, very
few black citizens could afford to own
property and thus they received very
little assistance.

In May, 1895, a petition was filed to
make Wesley Cobb, Mumford Drake,
Robb Head, William Guilford, Len
Sharman, G. P. Rogers, Henry King,
Shadrack Drake, Alexander Holmes,

Joshua Weaver, Arthur Spur, Guilford
Guilford, and John Dickinson the trus-
tees of Starr School. This listing on the
petition becomes a roll of honor, identi-
fying those heroes of learning.

The construction of the school house
seen above provides a wonderful meas-
ure of the black citizen's determination
and dedication to the educational proc-
ess. To have provided so large and fine
a building meant that their entire com-
munity, over a long period of time, had
to give sacrificially and to do much of
the construction themselves.

Realizing this degree of commitment
within the black community also helps
to explain how this group provided
such talented and devoted educators as
Professors George Drake and Monroe
Worthy.