Students in Other Parish schools

Last week, I told you about the Monroe Academy, a Leland University affiliate private school for African-American students at the turn of the last century. Leland had affiliate schools all over Louisiana in the 1890s and 1900s and some Ouachita Parish students were sent to these other schools! If the student lived in the western … Continue reading Students in Other Parish schools →

Students and Faculty of the North Louisiana Industrial Institute

The bulletin for Leland University I found these lists of students in, can be seen on the Internet Archives here : https://archive.org/details/bulletin189798191011lela/page/n121/mode/2up?q=%22Monroe%2C+LA%22 . I also found them digitized on the Hathi Trust page and on the Worldcat database. I transcribed from each brochure the list of students, which added up to around 2,300 names! What … Continue reading Students and Faculty of the North Louisiana Industrial Institute →

Monroe’s Ties to a Lost Black University

I am just recently hearing about a private school for African-Americans that was here in the 1890's and the early 1900's. To call out my own biases, I thought that Wisner Colored High School was the only school for African Americans during this time period. I knew of at least one small private school, but … Continue reading Monroe’s Ties to a Lost Black University →

Wisner Colored High School

Wisner Colored High School was one of the earliest African-American high schools in Ouachita Parish. It was founded by the Barrington family right after the Civil War. The Excellence Academy school building sits on the site. This grainy newspaper clipping was recently found and was identified as Pruitt High School, 1915. The distinguished gentleman in … Continue reading Wisner Colored High School →