DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about N. A. Banks Elementary School in Anderson County.
Now settle in, because this is a story about a building that's gone — but the people inside it? They're not gone at all. The school opened in 1912 in Palestine's South End Community, and from the start, it carried a name worth knowing.
N. A. Banks Elementary School was named for the principal of Palestine's Lincoln High School — a man named Nathaniel A.
Banks, born in 1854 and gone from this world in 1930, who left a mark on this community that outlasted him by decades. Banks served as Lincoln High School principal from 1898 to 1907, and that alone would be a fine legacy. But Nathaniel Banks wasn't the kind of man to stop at fine.
He organized the Colored Summer Normal School for the area — a program that prepared African-American teachers in ten surrounding counties to sit for the State Teaching Certification Exam. Hundreds of teachers came every summer, from 1899 until about 1919. Hundreds.
Every summer. And here's the part that gets you — they kept coming even after Banks himself left Palestine, left the teaching profession entirely, and became a farmer. The program he built kept running without him.
That's how you know something was built to last. The school named in his honor was a two-story brick building with four classrooms. When it opened its doors, it was the first elementary school for African-American children living south of the I&GN railroad tracks in Palestine, serving grades one through four.
The first principal was J.A.B. Strain, and the teachers who followed — Alma Johnson-Stein, Leonora Howard-Robinson, and Louise Scott-Updack — each gave more than thirty-five years of their lives to these classrooms. Thirty-five years apiece.
In a two-story brick building with four classrooms. You do the math on the devotion there, because it doesn't fit in a single sentence. The school grew.
In 1949, fifth and sixth grades were added, along with additional teachers. Then in 1953, those upper grades moved to the Lincoln High School campus when the new A.M. Story High School opened.
Twice a year, the building hosted meetings of the City Teachers' Association — an organization of African-American teachers — making it a gathering place not just for children learning, but for educators supporting one another. And then came May 1965. The Palestine School Board closed Banks School in accordance with desegregation guidelines.
The building didn't sit empty, though. It kept serving children, operating as the Palestine Kindergarten Center under the federally-funded Headstart Program for five more years. And then, in the early 1980s, the building was razed.
Gone. The two-story brick walls, the four classrooms, the halls where thirty-five-year careers unfolded — gone. But here's what the marker wants you to know, and what Palestine hasn't forgotten: Banks School was the educational foundation for many in that community.
Not a footnote. A foundation. The building may be gone, but that's not where the story ends — it's where it keeps going.
What the marker says
Established in 1912, N.A. Banks Elementary School served African-American children of Palestine's South End Community. Initially the school served grades one through four and was named for the principle of Palestine's Lincoln High School. Nathaniel A. Banks (1854-1930) had great influence on the African-American community of Palestine, serving as Lincoln High School principal from 1898 to 1907. He also organized the area's Colored Summer Normal School, which prepared African-American teachers in ten surrounding counties for the State Teaching Certification Exam. Hundreds attended each summer from 1899 until about 1919, even after Banks left Palestine and the teaching profession to become a farmer. The Banks School was a two-story brick building with four classrooms. When it opened, it was the first elementary school for African-American students living south of the I&GN railroad tracks in Palestine. J.A.B. Strain was the first principal. He and teachers Alma Johnson-Stein, Leonora Howard-Robinson and Louise Scott-Updack each taught here for more than 35 years. The school added fifth and sixth grades and additional teachers in 1949, though in 1953 these grades moved to the Lincoln High School campus when the new A.M. Story High School opened. Twice a year, the school hosted meetings of the City Teachers' Association, an organization of African-American teachers. In May 1965, the Palestine School Board closed Banks School in accordance with desegregation guidelines. The facility operated as the Palestine Kindergarten Center under the federally-funded Headstart Program for an additional five years. The building was razed in the early 1980s. Today Banks School is remembered as the educational foundation for many in Palestine and a source of community pride.