Lee County Training School
Prior 1929, there were no African American high schools in Auburn. Leaders in the white community—holding the false narrative that African Americans couldn’t be taught a traditional education—envisioned a school focused on skills such as carpentry, brick masonry, and agriculture—similar skills found during enslavement. By 1929 when the Lee County Training School (LCTS) was built, the persistent narrative remained.
LCTS served all 12 grades, but the focus was on trades. The second Rosenwald School in Auburn was located “along the back line” of the city limits. Built by skilled African American laborers, it had 8 classrooms, an auditorium, and a cafeteria/boiler room and educated up to 250 students. |
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Eventually, citizens tired of the trade education and the teachers supplemented classes with art, music, public speaking, drama, Black history, and sports. Despite half the pay as white teachers, LCTS had exceptional, dedicated, and committed teachers who prepared students whose contributions would be unwanted and underappreciated by the majority population. Those teachers taught that a disadvantaged background never is excuse for a lack of morality and that social and civic responsibility was paramount.
Nearly all students at LCTS lived in poverty. Some children walked up to 7 miles down dirt roads, as many families didn’t own cars. Students passed textbooks to family and community members, shared lunches among classmates, and halted lessons to fundraise. Funding was limited, the facilities, furniture, equipment, and supplies were substandard, and a few times funding concerns forced temporary closures; yet a high-quality education was maintained. Many students attended colleges such as Alabama A&M and Tuskegee Institute.
LCTS closed in 1958 when Drake High School—a city-funded school—opened. Today, the LCTS site is Martin Luther King, Jr. Park and a pavilion shaped like LCTS and two markers remind us of a difficult yet defining past.
Nearly all students at LCTS lived in poverty. Some children walked up to 7 miles down dirt roads, as many families didn’t own cars. Students passed textbooks to family and community members, shared lunches among classmates, and halted lessons to fundraise. Funding was limited, the facilities, furniture, equipment, and supplies were substandard, and a few times funding concerns forced temporary closures; yet a high-quality education was maintained. Many students attended colleges such as Alabama A&M and Tuskegee Institute.
LCTS closed in 1958 when Drake High School—a city-funded school—opened. Today, the LCTS site is Martin Luther King, Jr. Park and a pavilion shaped like LCTS and two markers remind us of a difficult yet defining past.