June 2001: Vol. 80, No. 3June 2001: Vol. 80, No. 3 |
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At a time when most blacks in the South were lucky to receive a seventh-grade education, Athens resident Charles Stroud (MEd '75) was studying tenth grade history at the Jeruel Academy/Union Baptist Institute, at the intersection of Pope and Baxter streets near the present site of Brumby Hall.
On April 3, 2001, Stroud, who attended the institute from 1945 until it was closed in 1956, was among the alumni who gathered to see UGA president Michael F. Adams unveil a state historical marker to commemorate the school's 120-year anniversary and its rich history.
Howard Stroud, who chairs the institute's preservation committee, says the historic marker pays tribute to a unique school that drew students from as far away as South Carolina before closing in 1956.
"This ceremony is in remembrance of the private institution on this site," said Howard Stroud, chairman of the Jeruel Academy/Union Baptist Institute Preservation Foundation and Charles' older brother. "The academy provided an education for black boys and girls hungry for an education."
In 1881, the Jeruel Academy/Union Baptist Institute was founded under the leadership of Rev. Collins Henry Lyons and what is now the Ebenezer Baptist Church, West. The three-story academic building and separate women's dormitory were completed in 1886. According to the institute's preservation committee, "The initial aim of the school was to provide higher studies than those given them by the common school, and to have a far-reaching influence that would uplift mankind and prepare for the higher callings of life."
For Charles Stroud, the mental preparation he received has made all the difference.
"The institution was very important to my educational career," says Stroud, who went on to earn two master's degrees. "Classes weren't exceptionally large, so you got a lot of individual attention. It was an irreplaceable foundation. They offered everything from core classes to a variety of extracurricular classes."
Classes offered at the school included English, Greek, Latin, French, history, math, public speaking, agriculture, sewing, cooking, music, and printing.
According to Stroud, the institute was unique in that it was the only school outside of Atlanta that went from kindergarten to 12th grade; even the county schools for white children stopped at grade 11. The learning environment—a mix of staunch discipline and religious faith—led families from as far away as South Carolina to send their children there.
"Parents believed in the school system back then," says Stroud. "If you got in trouble at school, you knew you were in trouble at home. There were no disputes between the two."
The success the institution had at raising inquisitive young black thinkers made it exceptionally hard in 1956, when the Clarke County and Athens City Schools were consolidated, and the academy was closed after 75 years. "A lot of people didn't want to go to a new school, and ended up quitting," says Stroud, who still attends reunions every two years. "It was a hurting feeling to see our school close. My father and his father had both gone there. When we got to Athens High and Industrial, it was an attitude of 'we were coming to their school.' We were losing a lot of tradition."