Bethlehem School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Upshur County, there's a community called Bethlehem, and the African American families who built that community understood something from the very start: freedom without education is a foundation without walls. So soon after Emancipation, they got to building schools.

That's not a metaphor. That is exactly what they did. They built schools.

Now, the school that stands at the center of this story came together in 1922, when assistance from the Rosenwald Fund made a four-room schoolhouse possible. They called it Bethlehem Colored School, and from the moment it opened, that building held something bigger than four rooms. It held a community's ambitions.

Standing at the heart of that place, decade after decade, was J.W. Sharp, born in 1872 and still part of this world all the way until 1960. A longtime educator here.

And alongside him, carrying that same dedication forward, was his daughter, Catha M. McDaniel, born in 1918, who kept teaching at Bethlehem well into her own chapter of the story, all the way until 2001. Then there were the others.

Era Warren. Alma Ray-Batts Simon. Tommie Bozeman.

Rodell Miller. Ira Mae Sparks. Each one of them standing in front of students who had every reason to wonder whether the world was going to give them a fair shake, and choosing every single day to answer that question with a lesson plan.

Those students, for their part, showed up ready. They competed in academic and athletic activities, and they won. Many trophies.

Against whatever odds, they won. Now, the marker is careful to say something that deserves to be said plainly: segregation created vast imbalances in resources. That was real, and it was unjust, and nobody should gloss over it.

And yet, despite all of that, Bethlehem School benefited its students and the whole community, through education and through events that brought people together. That's not a small thing. That's a remarkable thing.

In 1968, consolidation with Union Hill ISD closed the school. The doors shut. But the people it shaped, the trophies they earned, the teachers who gave their careers to those four rooms, and the community that built something lasting out of almost nothing, none of that closed.

The marker is standing in Upshur County right now, and it makes sure you know it.

What the marker says

The African American community of Bethlehem in Upshur County has long valued education, building schools soon after Emancipation. Assistance from the Rosenwald Fund resulted in a four-room schoolhouse in 1922 named Bethlehem Colored School. J.W. Sharp (1872-1960) and his daughter, Catha M. McDaniel (1918-2001), were longtime educators here. Teachers include Era Warren, Alma Ray-Batts Simon, Tommie Bozeman, Rodell Miller and Ira Mae Sparks. Students competed in academic and athletic activities and won many trophies. Consolidation with Union Hill ISD closed the school in 1968. Despite vast imbalances in resources due to segregation, the school benefited the students and the whole community through education and events. (2022)