Lott Canada School

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Lott Canada School in Bee County. Now settle in, because this story starts long before there was a school at all. It starts in a store.

In 1876, the first African American school in Bee County opened not in a classroom, not in a proper schoolhouse, but in Stephen Canada's store, seven miles north of Beeville. That was the reality of education for many African Americans in the 19th century. With few formal schools available, instruction often came through churches, through stores, through wherever a community could carve out a little space and make something from nothing.

The following year, a man named Stephen Kennedy built a small frame schoolhouse, and county commissioners granted Canada and Kennedy's petition to create what was officially called Colored Community School Twelve. Beeville, at the time, maintained separate schools for Caucasian, African American, and Mexican American students. That was the world these children were growing up in.

In 1908, Beeville school trustees bought land for a new African American school from R.H. and Clara Berry. A frame schoolhouse went up on North Burke Street, and under principal J.R. Lockett, the school introduced courses in agriculture and science and matched the studies being offered at other Beeville schools.

That last part is worth sitting with. Matched the studies of other Beeville schools. They weren't asking for less.

Then came 1929, and fire took the building. Students were taught in temporary quarters near the Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church while the community figured out what came next. Construction on a new school began in 1931, and here's where a name from far away enters the story.

Financial assistance from the Julius Rosenwald Fund of Chicago helped complete a brick schoolhouse, four classrooms and an auditorium, rising up where ash and memory had been. And the community chose a name carefully. The school was named to honor Mose Lott and Allen Canada, carpenters who had built the previous school, the one that burned.

The Lott Canada School. It offered ten grades when it opened, with additional years added through the 1940s. Gradual integration of Beeville schools began in 1955, with Lott Canada students attending A.C.

Jones High School and the elementary school. In 1964, the Lott Canada School closed. The school district continued to use the campus for other functions, but the school itself was gone.

What didn't close was the memory of the place. The Lott Canada Alumni Association organized to preserve the heritage of African American education in Beeville. They made sure the names Mose Lott and Allen Canada, two carpenters who built something that burned and were honored by something that stood, would not be forgotten.

And thanks to them, they aren't.

What the marker says

With few formal schools available, education for many African Americans in the 19th century came through church instruction. In 1876, the first African American school in Bee County began in Stephen Canada's store seven miles north of Beeville. The following year, Stephen Kennedy built a small frame schoolhouse. County commissioners granted Canada and Kennedy's petition to create "Colored Community School Twelve." Beeville provided separate schools for Caucasian, African American and Mexican American students. In 1908, Beeville school trustees bought land for a new African American school from R.H. and Clara Berry. In the frame schoolhouse completed on North Burke Street, prinicipal J.R. Lockett introduced courses in agriculture and science and matched the studies of other Beeville schools. A 1929 fire destroyed the building, and students were taught in temporary quarters near the Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church. Construction on a new school began in 1931. Financial assistance from the Julius Rosenwald fund of Chicago helped complete a brick schoolhouse with four classrooms and an auditorium. The school was named to honor Mose Lott and Allen Canada, carpenters who built the previous school which burned. The school offered ten grades, with additional years added through the 1940s. Gradual integration of Beeville schools began in 1955, with Lott Canada students attending A.C. Jones High School and the elementary school. In 1964, the Lott Canada School closed, though the school district continued to use the campus for other functions. The Lott Canada Alumni Association organized to preserve the heritage of African American education in Beeville. (2008)