By Geoffrey Wertime, Staff Writer
BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP — An advance screening of a documentary on the history of African-American education has given students and teachers in the district a glimpse into the past.
Following the screening of “A Place out of Time: The Bordentown School,” alumni from the school and the film’s director and co-producer answered questions at the Bordentown Regional High School where nearly 800 people attended Friday.
The hour-long film highlights the unique nature of the state-funded, all-black boarding school at a time when educational opportunities largely were restricted to the white majority in the first half of the 20th century.
Footage from old reels in the state archive are contrasted with new interviews with local professors and Bordentown alumni about the impact the school had on them and on the state.
A collaboration of the Bordentown Regional School District and the state Department of Education, the film seemed to captivate students, who lined up after watching the hour-long documentary to pepper the alumni and director with questions.
One student wanted to know why she and her classmates were hearing about all this for the first time.
“I felt the same way,” director and co-producer Dave Davidson said.
He said many stories from the era of segregation are only now coming to light, in part due to a collective shame about how minorities were treated. But he said wonderful stories also came out of those very conditions.
“Under extremely terrible oppression, people did amazing things,” he said.
Alumna and retired cosmetology instructor Betty Hunter said in her time at the school, she went from being a teenager who avoided chores to a young woman with drive and determination.
“I didn’t have to do anything at home,” she said, but after getting written up for doing a shoddy job of cleaning her Bordentown School sleeping area, “I learned a big lesson.”
Her husband and former classmate, Lionel Hunter, said the school’s biggest effect was, unlike other schools, the bar was set high for Bordentown students. Indicating fellow panelist Art Symes, who went on to achieve a doctorate in architecture from the University of Michigan and become a professor, Mr. Hunter said, “We expected him to do well.”
Dr. Symes credited his achievements to the boarding school where he studied carpentry.
“I don’t think I can make you understand how happy and glad I am that I got to Bordentown and got the foundation that I got,” he said. “It was a marvelous educational institution.”
“Bordentown was ahead of its time,” said fellow panelist and alumnus Nate Hamilton. “It prepared us to be a success in life.”
The Bordentown Manual Training and Industrial School was founded in 1886 and closed in 1955. In its heyday, it provided a well-rounded education to thousands of African-Americans from varying economic backgrounds.
Established by the Rev. W.A. Rice, an ex-slave and an African Methodist Episcopal minister, the school started out in several private residences within Bordentown City before moving to a boarding school in 1902 on the estate of Capt. Charles Stewart, who was the commander of the USS Constitution during the War of 1812. The connection to the captain and his boat gave the school its nickname, “Old Ironsides.”
The school closed amidst talk of it being a “Jim Crow” institution even though many still supported the institution and state legislators opted to keep the school open another year. Gov. Robert B. Meyner vetoed the bill during the summer recess and turned the campus into a mental institution.
Mr. Davidson called the situation “really a perfect storm” of the then-governor being flush with funding for mental health and needing a campus and a cultural shift.
“You can see that public opinion was turning against Bordentown,” he said, which had only two white students after segregation officially ended.
The school’s former grounds, scarcely more than a stone’s throw from the Ward Avenue campus of the current high school, now are owned and operated by the state Juvenile Justice Commission.
Notable local and state officials attended the screening, including Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, Bordentown City Mayor James Lynch and Bordentown Township Deputy Mayor Anita DiMattia.
Lt. Gov. Guadagno, who did not stay for the screening, said the difference between the history shown in the film and the makeup of the modern high school’s student body shows “anything is possible.”
“Bordentown was really ground zero for public education,” she said.
Mayor Lynch noted the city’s recent move to honor Floyd Little, an African-American who attended another local school for several years and was recently elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“It gives you some perspective on what’s happened to Bordentown over the years,” the mayor said.
“A Place out of Time: The Bordentown School” will air nationally at 10 p.m. May 24 on PBS.
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