School Profile

The Calhoun Colored School (1892–1945) was a private boarding and day school in Calhoun, Lowndes County, Alabama, about 28 miles (45 km) southwest of the capital of Montgomery. It was founded in 1892 by Charlotte Thorn and Mabel Dillingham, from New England, in partnership with Booker T. Washington of Tuskegee Institute, to provide education to rural black students. African Americans comprised the majority in this area, and the state had segregated facilities. Calhoun Colored School was first designed to educate rural black students according to the industrial school model common at the time.^[3]

In addition, the school sponsored a land bank that helped 85 families buy land. It created a joint venture with the county to improve a local road so farmers could get their products to market. As the school developed, it raised its standards, created a large library, and offered more of an academic curriculum.

The principal's house, the only surviving original building, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of the school's importance in the history of education of African Americans.

Present day

In 1943, the state of Alabama acquired the Calhoun Colored School. A new facility was built on the grounds that serves as the public high school run by the Lowndes County Board of Education. The county is majority-African American in ethnicity.

The principal's house on County Route 53 is the last remaining structure from the original school. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of the important achievements of the school and the role it played in African-American education in Lowndes County.