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C.F. Gingles Elementary School, which was once located on Spargo Street in Dallas, closed its doors for the last time in 1968.
The school had been through three name changes by that time, starting off as Dallas Negro School, becoming Dallas Elementary School, and finally, C.F. Gingles Elementary School.
Almost four decades after the closing of C.F. Gingles, former student Reesie Gary organized an event to honor the teachers who she believed worked hard at the school to instill life-long values and knowledge in herself and her classmates.
This year, the group got back together for another event to honor students and instructors of C.F. Gingles.
C.F. Gingles before C.F. Gingles
Before the establishment of the school, people of color living in the area had to rely on the few churches that were willing to open their doors and give them a space to learn, according to Gary.
Some of those churches already existed in High Shoals and Dallas, Gary said.
In the early 1900s, it came to public attention that people of color needed an established place to learn, and the movement to establish more schools for them was headed by Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington.
This movement led to and funded the establishment of many new schools, like the Dallas School.
At the time of its establishment, the Dallas school was a county school.
According to the stories Gary has gathered from former classmates, students came from Dallas, High Shoals, Ranlo, Lowell and Stanley.
During this time, segregation was still in full swing, and this school was established for people of color living in Gaston County.
The school would later close down just a few years after the Supreme Court case Brown V. Board of education officially signed integration into law.
The steering committee
In the early 2000s, Gary was working at what is now CaroMont Health, but was then Gaston Memorial Hospital.
“I was tired of being a CNA,” Gary said.
A new position working with medical records at the hospital opened up, and Gary applied.
When she got the call telling her she had gotten the job, Gary thought of the men and women who led her education at C.F. Gingles Elementary.
“It stirred my heart, because I thought of the teachers and some of them were so mean,” Gary said. “As an adult, I was so grateful for how they nurtured me and encouraged me to learn everything I could.”
Gary decided to reach out to former classmate James Marvin Friday, who she still knew through the grapevine.
Gary told Friday that she wanted to honor their former teachers, and before she knew it, a group of former C.F. Gingles students, now called the steering committee, were meeting to make a plan.
A few months later in February of 2002, the Gaston County Board of Commissioners issued a proclamation honoring those teachers.
The steering committee worked to contact as many of the living teachers as they could and took them out to dinner in Gastonia.
Fast forward
Over the years, the steering committee was offered a seat at the board of Gaston County’s African American Museum of History and Culture.
The committee has held many small events since 2002, but recently held a large event including more than 67 guests after uncovering letters of appreciation from some C.F. Gingles students, written to the cafeteria workers during their time at the school.
The committee located many of the students who wrote letters, living instructors, and former C.F. Gingles Principal James Samuel Miller Sr.
Many were awarded for their contributions to the history of the school.
“The things that were instilled in me back then followed me all the way to high school, then to college, girl,” Gary said.
Gary believes history committees and events that celebrate participants in those histories are important.
“I did not know what I know now, and I feel like we need to keep that history alive,” Gary said. “To me it’s important that the world knows about C.F. Gingles because there was so much that took place during those years.”
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