The Rosedale School

I, it's like when you grew up you really didn't really know what you had until it's gone, so I think people moved away, looking for better but didn’t realize they had it all the time. And so, when they grew up, they went to another community they didn't want to come back and now they wish they had that, because we had everything right here but as you grow up you think, you know, “I'm going to do better for myself” and instead of investing in this community, they invested somewhere else.

Harriet Hall Pullom, Rosedalean

In 1969, the Rosedale School shut its doors and sent its students off to attend previously all-white institutions. With the end of segregation, Rosedale's youth had doors open to them that had been sealed shut for decades. However, most doors led out of the Rosedale neighborhood. As students began to attend schools outside of the boundaries of the community, they began to leave Rosedale to pursue opportunities far from the streets they grew up on. 

Before its closure, the Rosedale School served as a massive hub of community life. Sporting events at the ball diamond, close relationships with teachers and marching band performances played critical roles in the cohesion of children, adults and faculty within the neighborhood. Many Rosedale residents recall the dedication of Rosedale School faculty and staff, the deep bonds between classmates and the excitement of events such as plaiting the May Pole and cheering on the "Mighty Sons of Kong" as they faced off other football teams. Rosedale School teachers invested innumerable hours into the lives of their students, and many lived within the neighborhood itself. 

"Oh, it was great! It was great and most of our teachers, were uh, a lot of our teachers lived in Rosedale, so you, you couldn't do anything wrong, me and my big mouth, I could always find a reason. I was, one of my teachers, she lived right there, on Maple, where Jim 'n Nicks is now? And she was, it was raining, and we couldn't go outside. So, she decided we would let everybody tell jokes and stuff. So, I get up and I said, and she was chubby, she wasn't fat, but she was, and I’m like, "Well what's the difference between an orchestra and a big fat lady?" And nobody knew, and I said, "An orchestra draws a crowd and a big fat lady crowds her drawers." Now, I'm in school. (Laughter) I mean it was, I mean I was that kind of child, you know whatever came up came out. But when I came home my momma already knew this. But yeah, we had good times, we had good times. I liked all my teachers. I really did. I liked all my teachers I didn't have one I did not like."

Frances Jones, Rosedalean

After the closure of the school, the Rosedale neighborhood lost many prominent community members. Rosedale schoolteachers were sent to other educational institutions, and students were split apart based on where their houses stood in the neighborhood. Many students struggled to integrate fully into the white system and felt a deep sense of loss in leaving behind their cherished school traditions and building. 

MADOLYN JONES WYATT: Uh, I stopped, well they closed it, and you know, desegregation. When I was in the tenth grade.

SHAE COREY: Okay.

MADOLYN JONES WYATT: So, when I was promoted to the eleventh grade we had to go to Shades Valley.

SHAE COREY: Okay, how was that experience for you?

MADOLYN JONES WYATT: Not good. (Laughter). Not good. I didn't like school anyway, but I hated it because you know they kind of divided us all up-so like you didn't have any of your friends in the class you were just like the only black person in one class, you know... So it was kind of difficult to start out. But we went from the first grade to the tenth grade all in the same class, you know, we got to graduate, to move from one class to the next. You know, and all of us stayed in the same class so we knew each other from age 6 until we were teenagers. I think, it was the, it was exciting, like I said you know we knew each other so it was like every year you got to be with the same people you got to be with the year before and it was like growing up, we were like a family because you knew everybody. 

The family-like connections made at the Rosedale School did not waver despite the distance put between graduates. The Rosedale Clubs connected Rosedale community members in numerous cities: Chicago, Detroit, Cincinatti, New York, Cleveland and Atlanta all hosted special events such as dances and gatherings. The "Hometown" Rosedale Club, held within the neighborhood, maintained communal bonds. Rosedale School Reunions also played (and continue to play) a major role in connecting past and present community members. This connectivity is unique in the way that school and neighborhood relations have been prioritized in the same manner as family relations. 

"Rosedale High, we dearly love thee

Rosedale High, we'll still be true

Though your walls are calling for thee

Yet our memories linger new

Rosedale High, we can't forget you

Though sometimes we feel oppressed

You have given us a heritage

That no other can possess."

For many lifelong Rosedaleans, and those that have since left the neighborhood, their connections to one another have stayed strong despite distance, time and circumstance. Their loyalty to each other reveals the strength of their bond and the importance of the preservation of their history and memory. For more information on the Rosedale School and their process of integration, please view the "Voices from a Dispute Time" exhibit or browse our collections of oral history, artifacts and photographs.