African-American history preserved at Bradley

Nancy De Gennaro, Daily News Journal, March 20, 2016

MURFREESBORO — One of the most vivid childhood memories 92-year-old Ernestine Tucker has is her first day at Bradley Academy, an elementary that was Rutherford County’s first school for African-Americans.

“My aunt walked us to the school. That’s the way she did every morning,” said Tucker, who grew up a half-mile from Bradley Academy, which is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Middle Tennessee State University will host the annual Willie McGowan Banquet, named for one of the people most instrumental in restoring the school, at 7 p.m. March 26 in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the opening of Bradley Academy Museum and Cultural Center. The fundraiser, which is $40 for ages 18 and older or $20 for students, will be held in MTSU’s James Union Building. The event features dinner, keynote speaker James Oscar Simmons and special presentations.

Tickets can be purchased by cash or by check in advance at the museum, 415 S. Academy St., during the normal operating hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For tickets or donations, make checks payable to the City of Murfreesboro/Friends of Bradley Academy Museum. For more information call 615-962-8773. For more information, visit murfreesborotn.gov/parks or call 615962-8773.

Although Bradley Academy became the first African-American school in 1884, originally it was established for white males. Among the earliest students was James K. Polk, who would eventually become the 11th president of the United States. The current structure at 415 S. Academy St. was built around 1917. But after it was abandoned it fell into disrepair.

The move to preserve the historic site began about 10 years before it opened as a museum. Leading the way was Fred Beneby, whose wife was a cousin to Tucker. Beneby spotted Bradley not long after he and his wife, Anathia Beneby, had moved to Murfreesboro when he retired.
“I said, ‘What the heck is that building?’ She said her father and a lot of his friends went to the school. … I wanted to find out what happened (to the school),” Beneby recalled.

Beneby already had experience in historic preservation efforts with the renovation of an African-American school in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he once lived. Interested in preserving Bradley, he approached Willie McGowan and the two began putting a group together to restore the school to its former glory.

“Will McGowan did a lot of the work there. A lot of people are not aware that he was there almost every day. I have to applaud him for being the one who put his whole life into it,” Beneby said. “I was happy we were so successful before he died. He was a great motivator.”

McGowan and Beneby formed the Bradley Academy Historical Association board of directors, which included J.W. Robinson, Edward Shannon Blackman, Walter Alexander, MTSU’s Gloria Bonner, educator Myrtle Glanton Lord, Florence Smith and Sen. Bill Ketron.

Beneby also discovered MTSU’s Center for Historic Preservation. Canita Hankins, Ed Johnson and Jim Huhta were instrumental in helping the board develop a publicity package. The late state Rep. John Bragg handed the association a check for $1,200. And there were so many other “unsung heroes,” Beneby said, almost too numerous to name.

While the preservation was underway, Tucker used her connections to garner artifacts, including one in particular she said “started the whole thing” — a photograph of the 1924 football team at Bradley Academy. Her uncle, Theodore Roosevelt “Bus” Seward, was a team member.

“He would be the proudest thing in the world to have his picture (noticed). It was torn and I had to glue it together,” Tucker said, pulling out the yellowed image of the stern-looking team. “I took it out to Canita Hankins and we had a lot of fun talking (about the history of the school). Then I found other people who were still living w ho had graduation pictures and other things.”

African-American children from all over the county walked to Bradley Academy, regardless of where they lived.

“We had to walk because we didn’t have buses then,” Tucker recalled.

With no playground on site, the children played all sorts of games in the y ard. She recalled making hopscotch grids in the dirt, playing hideand- seek, boys playing marbles, and a game called Pop the Whip.

“Everybody lined up and you would run down and they would sling the last person in the line like that,” she explained, slinging her arm out to demonstrate how the game worked. “That was Pop the Whip.”

She also recalled the daily processional into the school. Before heading to class, all the children would line up by grade and a drummer boy played a cadence as children marched into the auditorium. Another favorite part of school was chapel, when students read the Bible, sang songs and prayed.
Although Tucker grew up in an era when black people were still segregated, she said the children didn’t really “know any different” and her days at Bradley Academy were some of the happiest days of her childhood.

She said it broke her heart when she found out newly constructed schools were given the names of the original African-American schools of Bradley and Holloway, which was the high school.

“I said that should h ave never been because that’s (the African-American community’s) history. That was taken away from us because of those names, that’s to keep it from being a part of our history,” Tucker said.

So when she learned of preservation efforts at Bradley Academy, she was elated. In fact, when the museum was finally opened to the public in 1996, she said she cried when she walked inside.

“It looked just the same,” Tucker said.

There’s a restored classroom that boasts the old-style chalkboard and wooden desks that would have been used. All over the museum are displays featuring different times in the African-American story. A commemorative brick courtyard was installed with names of supporters engraved on the bricks.

“What I want people to understand is that Bradley is a part of all of us, even if you’re not a graduate. You should support Bradley with membership, and we’re hoping a fraternity or organization will adopt the commemorative memorial and brick courtyard (to be able to continue to raise funds). I also want people to support Bradley by encouraging people to visit and see what it’s all about, to see Bradley and what we’ve done,” Beneby said.

Reach Nancy De Gennaro at 615-278-5148 and on Twitter @DNJMama.