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A School Made of Bricks...and History

12/29/2013

7 Comments

 
Picture
Photos Used By Permission: Click on Photo to Visit ABANDONED OKLAHOMA Website
PictureUsed By Permission of ABANDONED OKLAHOMA
It was built and put into service in 1911, over a hundred years ago.  It has been abandoned since 1994.  And it still stands there, in the middle of Oklahoma City, just down the street from the OU Medical Center - an empty testament to times past.  Page Woodson is a structure of historic significance, still listed as a "Segregated Negro High School".  It was called the Page Woodson Fifth Grade Center, and it's the site of my first teaching position.  In fact, the picture at left looks very much like my original classroom. 

I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared to face my first class in 1990.  Part of my apprehension must have been due to the interview process.  I was not the master of the job interview, and I had been on a few with no job offers.  When I met Principal Higgins, I was more than a little nervous.  My first impression told me that this man was like Joe Clark, as portrayed by Morgan Freeman in the uplifting movie, Lean on Me.  In the interview, Mr. Higgins asked be the unusual question, "What kind of car do you drive?"  When I described my 1984 Ford Tempo, he said that was good "because they like to steal Chryslers from the playground (Yes, we parked on the playground, and they locked the chain link fence during the school day.).  I really believe my car got me the first job in my professional career.

During the week before school was to begin, teachers were called in for training.  That's nothing new, but the subject matter of the training was more of a shock to this rookie.  It was not facilitated by some educational guru or even by a principal or teacher leader; it was led by the Oklahoma City Police Department.  There I was, hoping to teach children, and learning instead about gang hand signals, tagging, Satanist and gang symbolism, drug deals, and how to take a gun away from someone.  This did nothing to squelch my apprehension!  To top it all, Mr. Higgins expected me to teach students from cultures quite different from any I had experienced.

PictureUsed By Permission of ABANDONED OKLAHOMA
That said, I held my own during the first week of school, and my fifth grade class did not have any discipline issues.  We were learning history in most of my classes, but I was also responsible for teaching reading to my homeroom class.  Unfortunately, there were no reading books.  "No problem," I said.  "I'll use my history books to teach reading."  Meanwhile, kids were freestyle rapping and break dancing in the halls between classes.

If I could say nothing else about my school, I could say it had character.  We didn't need the radiators since it was over 100 degrees.  The box fans in the windows drowned out most of my teaching, and our endless sweating drowned out any attempt to focus.  Nevertheless, I pressed on.

I had a good friend at the time who was in the Air Force.  He was going to Iraq in the war effort after the Iraqi military invaded Kuwait.  I asked my students to write letters to him, and we soon earned the attention of the local media.

PictureUsed By Permission of ABANDONED OKLAHOMA
Then came the word that the student population had not met expectations, and Mr. Higgins needed to downsize the staff.  Being the new guy, he told me I needed to find another position in the district (I interviewed for three other schools and was offered all three positions.).  I upgraded to a school in a less violent area.  Later in the same school year, Mr. Higgins was reported to have taken several knives from his students, and there was at least one gang shooting across the street from the school.  I was only at Page Woodson for a few days, but when I found the pictures of the school on the Abandoned Oklahoma website, it all came back to me - the parking lot/playground, the staircases, the hallways, the auditorium, and the swimming pool.  Yes, this school - a Segregated Negro High School put into service some 18 years before Martin Luther King Jr. was born - had a swim program, and a rather large pool facility (The pool was already closed when I worked there, and I never laid eyes on it until I found the AOK website.).

PictureUsed By Permission of ABANDONED OKLAHOMA
I suppose it is just a building, but it seems to me that there was a lot of history there.  I didn't appreciate that history when I was there, and I'll probably never drive through the area again, but it does provide one thing for me now:  it reminds me of how close we are to a major part of American history, so close, in fact, that I touched it every time I walked through the doors, up the stairs, and into my classroom.  I saw it in every wooden floor slat, every door knob, and every window frame.  I just didn't know it at the time.

I can't even imagine the teachers who came before me, the lessons that were taught in that second floor classroom.  The teachers didn't look like me.  They didn't use the same methods.  They read from different textbooks.  They adhered to oppressive laws.

The water fountains were not for "Negroes", and the restroom weren't labeled for "Colored Only"; the fact is the whole school was labeled as such.  To think I was working, daily, in such a place - surrounded by such a history - really is unbelievable.


Special thanks is extended to Justin Tyler Moore of the Abandoned Oklahoma team
for permission to use the photos in this post.
7 Comments
Billey Dies
7/1/2020 09:55:31 pm

Looking for a teacher from there that had a tremendous impact on my life, her name was Bernice Anderson or Johnson.By any chance were you there when Mr Freeze was there n end of building up the stairs on the right ,Mrs Anderson would have been on the left I believe if my memory serves me right .I would love so much to see her and thank her she had a son named Sean and I’ve tried on social media but no luck.

Reply
Mr. H link
7/1/2020 11:57:48 pm

Billey,

Thank you for reaching out to me. It's always great to hear from someone who was positively influenced by a teacher.

I was at Page-Woodsen for just a couple of weeks in August of 1990. Unfortunately, that was not enough time to learn anything about my teaching peers or make substantial memories with my students - not to mention that it was 30 years ago. I'm afraid I'm not going to be any help in your search.

How did you find this article on my website? Some kind of random search?

Reply
Cory
12/1/2020 02:48:00 pm

I attended here the last year it was open. My teacher’s name was mrs seree but I’m not sure if I’m spelling that correctly. She was a good teacher and I really liked her.

Reply
Valery
1/4/2021 09:45:49 pm

I attended Page Woodson 5th Yr Center in 1979-80. I don’t remember much about any of the teachers or their names (probably because It was only one year), but I do remember the librarian was a male teacher and he was great. He left a positive impression on me. I can remember teachers and names from all my other grades, so I know at that age one year just wasn’t enough to commit names to me memory. But me memories of the school, library, and the playground are vivid. It was a good experience.

Reply
Mr. H link
1/5/2021 07:12:15 am

That's a good point, Valery, and a good argument for not putting a single grade level in a school by itself as it was when I was there. One year is not enough to make a lasting impression on a fifth grader.

Reply
Tim Welch
2/6/2021 10:13:02 am

This was very interesting to read about. I was a 5th grade student around 1985-86 at Page Woodson. I am a teacher now, and one of the reasons I wanted to be a teacher was because of Ed Birch who was my teacher then. I'll be honest, Page Woodson was kind of rough even then, but Mr. Birch left a lasting impression on me. His humor and ability to make things interesting were things I will never forget. I had my first computer class with him in an after school program. We learned how to use BASIC computer language and made simple programs, but I thought it was amazing at the time. I remember dropping eggs from the third story windows in a contraption of our choice that would keep the eggs from breaking. I remember our reward for a successful drop was getting to watch Raiders of The Lost Ark. Mr. Birch was notorious for tossing chalk filled erasers at students who were not paying attention. I got busted before, but it was in a fun way, not humiliating. He was so fun! I teach 2nd grade now and I think of Mr. Birch often as I sometimes need to engage my students better. I've not been able to find Mr. Birch on social media, but I would love to tell him what an impact he made!

Reply
Mr. H link
2/6/2021 06:18:49 pm

It's good to hear that there was inspiration in that place. Too often, the ugliness overshadows the beauty. Teachers who make such an impact are worthy of the recognition you give to Mr. Birch.

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