Athens High School

While the Civil War years left many Black students to seek education through separate schools, there was a small shift in local schools in the decades after the war. In 1879, Athens High School saw its first Black graduate, Anna Butler. The Athens High School commencement was held at Athens City and was widely attended by community members. Students presented essays and performed recitations at the events. Anna’s essay, delivered in a quiet voice, expressed “as potent as is the influence upon life’s experience of the visible it is of importance, secondary to the moulding and directing of the invisible influences by which we are constantly surrounded in life.”[1] Perhaps Anna’s thoughtful speech was a reflection of her own experiences in a rapidly changing community.

The Athens City schoolhouse, built in the 1880s. Southeast Ohio History Center digital collections.

Despite her quiet delivery, her speech was well-received. The Athens Messenger celebrated this milestone as “an example for her race of what may be attained by intelligent and persistent effort – an example which we hope will be followed by every colored girl in Athens.”[2] While Ohio’s laws had limited and segregated schools in prior decades, Butler’s graduation was accepted in Athens as an example of Black progress. Less than a month after her graduation, Anna Butler was granted a two-year teaching license.[3] This was a path well-tread by earlier educated Black Athenians. Perhaps, like them, Butler understood how important education was in the struggle faced by Black Americans. Students in Athens county, then, could seek public or private school education, as well as university education for men, despite restrictive state laws.

When there were obstacles imposed on them, as with the Albany school, communities had some success providing for their students through independent fundraising. Still, writings about these institutions show the presence of racial tension. Newspaper writers, perhaps speaking for the community, encouraged the segregation of schools and expressed contempt at the existence of some Black public schools. In spite of this, students in both the academies and the university pursued education, and these students went forward to shape and sometimes improve their own communities in turn.

Notes

1. “High School Commencement,” Athens Messenger, June 26, 1879.

2. Athens Messenger, June 26, 1879.

3. “Qualified to Teach,” Athens Messenger, July 3, 1879.

Photo: "Athens City Old Brick School House," Southeast Ohio History Center Digital Collections. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p16007coll46/id/138/rec/1