From A Broken Heart To Black Excellence

Sharecroppers chopping cotton
Leslie Taylor-Grover
April 22, 2020

Laurence C. Jones knew the power of education for uplifting our people. When he took a job teaching in Mississippi, what he saw deeply bothered him

He knew he had to do SOMETHING.

Many children rarely came to school, because they had to help their parents farm cotton. Racism was rampant. The vast majority of our children could not even read. 

But what on Earth could Jones do?

He knocked on every single door in town, asking everyone to come together to build a new, high-quality high school

Families were excited. One allowed Jones to meet on their land if a school ever came to fruition. He couldn’t wait to get started - but he had to start small.

While walking door-to-door, he noticed a fallen cedar tree in the forest. He started teaching in that spot, using the tree for a desk. Children started to come, help from the community grew, and soon he had an old sheep shed for a schoolhouse.

But he never knew how much larger - and more important - his school would one day become.

Jones’ cedar log desk eventually grew into Piney Woods Country Life School, one of the largest Black boarding schools in the nation, which still thrives today. 

Truly, when we advocate for our children’s education, all of them can have successful outcomes, regardless of white society’s agenda to oppress them!

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