Alumni say school prepared them for life
Renewed Court Street
School continues mission
of community education
FREEHOLD — Nicy Marion Ham Russell attended Freehold High School in the late 1920s.
There she was told that she "didn’t belong" in the college prep, or classical course as it was then called, because "she wasn’t going to end up using the courses anyway."
Russell wasn’t the type of young woman to back down from a challenge. She never gave up her desire to have the education she felt she was entitled to.
A lifetime of stories permeates the sharp mind of this bright, dynamic lady, who is a 1928 graduate of the borough’s Court Street School in the era of segregated schools. Yet, it was not without pain that ran visibly deep and sometimes not so silently that she spoke of those stories and the images that colored the landscape of that particular time in the journey of her life.
Russell and other alumni from the Court Street School joined together with the Friends of the Court Street School at a fund-raising event April 27 at the restored building in an effort to share their vision of the future for the school and the programs now in place at the historic landmark.
Although the main event was the tour of the restored structure and viewing a display of the programs in place already, there was so much more to see, so much more to glean, so much more to learn from the guests who brought with them the history they had lived.
Amid the wonderful sampling of food and beverages, there was also a great deal of talking, listening and sharing going on.
Lillie Hendry, president of the board of trustees of the Court Street School Education Community Center, welcomed guests to the event by ringing a large school bell and calling everyone to attention.
"We are an outreach group that is joining with other outreach groups to better our community," she said.
Hendry, the other trustees, alumni and friends are working to revitalize the vision that was originally part of the school’s philosophy. The program, "Revitalizing Our Vision for the 21st Century," is a hope, not just for the school’s future and all the children in the community it serves, but also for the future of a race of people who started out on the education trail without much help or encouragement from the majority of society.
But the students received encouragement in the Court Street School, in this place they look back on as their "home." Here the seeds of growth were planted that have taken them to places they knew they wanted to go but at one time were told they weren’t allowed to.
Alumni spoke fondly of memories shared in the small building atop a hill at the end of Court Street. They spoke about their teachers as the people who, in essence, became the impetus that allowed them to reach for things they were told they’d never have.
Education was a long, hard road for Russell and other black Americans of her generation, but she ultimately did use the courses that she was once told she would never have a reason to study. Russell attended Wilberforce University in Xenia, Ohio, for one year, before graduating from the Harlem Hospital School of Nursing in New York. She later earned a bachelor of science degree in nursing at Hunter College in New York and certification for social work from Kean College in Union. Russell worked for the Freehold Borough elementary school district as part of a child study team as a social worker and visiting teacher.
During her latest visit back to the Court Street School she shared several stories about her youth. She told of losing her way in Freehold High School when she first started classes there. She was quite upset and had no idea how to find her classroom. Escorted by the principal, she was taken to her classroom and then realized she had not been given any books. When Russell questioned what she should do without proper materials for the class, she said that not only did her teacher not provide the books and other necessary materials, she told Russell to "sit there and twiddle my thumbs."
She remembers tests that she said were scored unfairly, stating that even though test papers would have the exact same answers and be alike in every way, other students in the class would receive an A- while the black students would only receive a B+.
"Why?" she asked.
There are no respectable answers.
Many other events she remembers vividly and not without a touch of sadness and a trace of justifiable anger.
"When we’d go on class trips," Russell began, "we’d have to stay overnight in family homes while the other students got to stay in a hotel."
Russell paused momentarily, suddenly distant and quiet. Then, the time for sad reflection over, she turned back with a bright smile and a confidence she’d so obviously earned and said, "We made it, in spite of it all."
And "make it" she did, as did students who graduated before and after her from the Court Street School, now a recognized and preserved part of American history.
Don Ruffin graduated in 1947, almost 20 years after Russell, but still attended the school in the segregated era. He’s retired now after spending 36 years as a social worker with the state Division of Youth and Family Services.
A graduate of Rutgers University, Ruffin has many wonderful memories tucked away which he willingly shared on a recent evening.
"We had a real connection with our teachers," Ruffin said.
He specifically noted George I. Read, who served as a teacher and the principal of the school at that time.
"Mr. Read taught us to reach for our goals, go to school and get an education," Ruffin said, admitting that the didn’t heed his teacher’s words the first time around. "I actually quit school, but years later when I was in my30s, I returned. I even had a family by that time."
Ruffin credits his teacher, principal and mentor, George Read, for being the single driving force for his returning to the education he had once rejected.
"His words just stayed with me," Ruffin said, remembering.
The alumnus remembers that the Court Street School was not just a place to study. It was a place where many lessons besides academic learning were achieved.
"We’d come home from school, have a snack and then go back down there," he said. "It was so much more than just school to us."
He said parents would come to the school as well. Ruffin also spoke of teachers who would visit a student’s home not for a conference, but just for fun. The sense of community was alive and well in the extended family that grew out of the Court Street School.
"I don’t have the words to express what this school meant to me," he said.
Margaret Peace, who graduated from the Court Street School in 1949, worked as an inspector for Brockway Glass in Freehold. She’s been volunteering her time to the Court Street School by helping children who are enrolled in a homework assistance program.
"It’s a pleasure to spend time with the children, especially those that are in need of a great deal of help," Peace said. "Our teachers taught us to be proud of who we are and to carry ourselves that way."
Peace’s trip back in time to her school days took a sudden quiet turn as she remembered the walk there. Peace lived on Factory Street and had to walk past two other schools every day on her way to Court Street.
"We were only in kindergarten," she said. "It was a very long walk."
Needing to pass by two schools because the color of your skin was different than the students in those schools is a bad memory for Peace and one which many people may not even be capable of relating to, but it is one which seemed to have motivated her to keep going in the direction of being true to herself.
Peace is now secretary of the board of the Court Street School Education Com-munity Center and is very involved in volunteering wherever she is needed. She said she wants to give back to the community by giving back something to the school that gave her so much.
Also in attendance at the recent fund-raising event were Cynthia Wright, Andrea McPherson and Retha Onitiri. Although these black women are young, as Friends of the Court Street School, they are devoting time and energy into participating in the revitalization program because they believe in it and because they see a bright future for the school.
McPherson said the fund-raising committee meets quarterly to work on raising funds that will get the community center up and going seven days a week from morning to evening. She said that will make the school a true community center. McPherson works for Fleet Bank as a project manager for enterprise security and compliance.
Onitiri, a project manager in telecommunications for Lucent Technologies, is concentrating her time on collecting historical information for the school library. She also wants to introduce public-speaking skills to the students who participate in the community center programs.
Wright said that after she met "Miss Lillie" [Hendry], she became hooked.
"I was intrigued by the stories and so interested in the history of the school. These people here made history. They actually lived it," she said.
Wright loves spending time with seniors and is concentrating her time to help seniors with computer skills. She works for AT&T Corp. as a systems tester engineer.
According to printed material provided by Hendry, a 1943 graduate of the Court Street School, "The restoration and regeneration of the school will be considered complete only when the community, particularly the young people in the community, truly feels a restored sense of purpose and pride in themselves, their family and their community. The process is under way."
The motto printed on school literature neatly incorporates the philosophy of the school as well as its vision for the future: "We build our family, our community and our country one child at a time."