JONESBORO — There were many guests and dignitaries at Thursday’s Jonesboro Rosenwald School Rejuvenation Project groundbreaking but perhaps the most special guests were several former students.
The Rosenwald School — also known as the Jonesboro Colored School — was one of about 5,000 Rosenwald Schools throughout the segregated South and one of 242 in Georgia.
“We’re just proud to be here to participate in this event and it’s just a historical moment for us,” said former student Diane Norwood Nunn.
Peggy Dodson attended the school in the early 1960s.
“I remember us being close knit,” she said. “It was almost like a family and Miss R.T. (Roberta Thompson) Smith was our principal. She was a strict lady but she was a sweet lady and she made sure we did what we were supposed to do. We had fun but our main goal was to get our lessons.”
Roberta Thompson Smith later had an elementary school named after her on Georgia Highway 42 in Rex.
“Just the closeness,” Nunn said of some of her memories of the Rosenwald school. “We were just close. We took care of each other and some of us are still living. I just think this is great to recognize this history of Clayton County and Jonesboro that they’ve always provided for education for children no matter what color.”
Both Nunn and Dodson are glad to see the school being renovated and for the school’s legacy to live on for future generations.
“I just hope they (today’s students) know that they have a better opportunity than we did with the technology, the buildings — everything — so that they don’t forget what brought them here,” Nunn said.
After the renovation, the building will be used as a model classroom, museum and meeting hall.
“It’s important that they know the history of what we went through when we were going to school versus what they are going through…
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