What better way to acknowledge, in these challenging times, the role that public education, especially Rosenwald Schools and the Randolph County Training School (RCTS), played in our development and the survival of our community, than celebrating the 107th birthday of our beloved RCTS teacher, Ms. Countess John Chapman.

Ms. Chapman is a national treasure and a living face for more than a century of what is possible when our nation commits itself to achieving the goals of diversity, equity, inclusion and justice for all.

Please note the community parade and celebration that will be held in her honor and support it in any way possible. Ms. Chapman graduated from RCTS in 1938 when it was housed in the original two-story wood building. After completing her undergraduate studies, she returned to teach at RCTS and the Wadley High School for more than 33 years.

A street in Roanoke, Alabama (Countess Place) is named in her honor and she shas received numerous service and leadership honors and awards, including two RCTS Life-time Achievement Awards, Roanoke and Randolph County proclamations, and a National Education Association (NEA) Resolution. As the U.S. Department of Education continues in existence, the building in which it is housed should be named in honor of Ms. Chapman.

Ms. Chapman was among those who conceived of the RCTS scholarship initiative, under which since 2005 one hundred and one scholarships have been awarded to RCTS descendant students. Ms. Chapman's three children (Linda, Ron and Countess) attended RCTS.

Behind These Silent Walls - Remember and Grow Stronger.

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This is a photo of our dear RCTS classmate, Mary Doris Alford, standing beside a statue of Eleanor Roosevelt. Mary ('58) was a strong supporter of equal educational, political and economic rights for women.

We need her example as women and civil rights are under renewed assault. We are still receiving donations in her honor to support the award of our 2025 RCTS scholarships. The most recent ones came from:

   - Mrs. Betty Horton from Gadsden, Alabama
The Mathematics Department at Calhoun Community College,Decatur, Alabama
Deans of Calhoun Community College, Decatur, Alabama
   - Vickie Alford Smith, Gadsden, Alabama

Since 2005, we have awarded RCTS scholarships to 101 RCTS descendant student graduates of Handley High School, Wadley High School, Woodland High School and the Randolph County High School. The rich RCTS Rosenwald descendant school legacy (1919 - 1970) continues through our scholarship initiative. 

Behind These Silent Walls - Remember and Grow Stronger.

The Randolph County Training School (RCTS) opened in 1919 and closed in 1970 in response to a federal court school desegregation order.

In 1965, RCTS principal Herman Shaw traveled to Washington, D.C. to urge action by the federal government (then the Department of Health, Education and Welfare) to desegregate public education in the county.

Mr. C. D. Camp was the principal of RCTS between 1926 and 1937. In January of 1935, Professor George Washington Carver, chairman of the Chemistry Department at Tuskegee University, spoke at Handley High School to a large crowd. At the time, public school education in the city and county was segregated based on race.

The Leader Newspaper covered the event, highlighting Dr. Carver's status as one of America's most noted and accomplished scientists. Of special note was the fact that a group of RCTS students was permitted to attend Dr. Carver's speech but had to sit in the gallery section of the auditorium.

Thirty-years would pass before students would be permitted to sit together in the auditorium unseparated by race and gallery and main floor designations.

The segregated seating arrangement in the auditorium separated the RCTS African American students from the essence of Dr. Carver's life of which they were a part. In the attached photo collage, I added Dr. Carver's picture to the article.

Behind These Silent Walls. History that should be taught.

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