Ken-Tenn Committee marks South Fulton Rosenwald School site as part of annual reunion

The Ken-Tenn Committee gathered for its 2025 annual Reunion at the site of the South Fulton Rosenwald School recently. 

Each year the group hosts events for two days of fun, fellowship and memories. This year, there was a wonderful reason to celebrate as a memorial marker was erected at the location where the school once stood.

To honor the school and all of its students, the Ken-Tenn Committee compiled a look back at the history of the school for others to learn why they still return each year and what the school meant to its community.

 The South Fulton Rosenwald School opened its doors in September 1926 following the closure of the Roach Street School. It took a community effort to establish the school and the community sustained it. Funds from philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, who had built hundreds of other schools for African American students in partnership with Booker T. Washington, spurred public funds and local community members to pool their resources.

What made South Fulton Rosenwald School so successful was the support from staff and parents, who instilled in students the belief that they could achieve anything despite the obstacles that faced them in the Jim Crow South. The teaching staff was dedicated with deep concern and personal contact with each student and students were motivated to achieve the highest goals in life.

The first principal was Professor J.J. Bills. In May 1927, the first eighth grade class graduated. The members of the class were Mary Rose, Doris Vick, V.O Mason, Berchie Hicks and Tommy Lee Kennedy. The teachers were Mrs. Mozzell Smith, Rev. Calvert, Mrs. Rhonda Warfield, and Mrs. Emma D. Steel.

Other notable school leaders were E. W. Casey, Adelbert Dumas, and Hattie B. Vanderford.

In 1959, the school added high school grades and graduated its first senior class in 1960 with three graduates: Shirley Maddox, Margie Guthrie, and Dorothy Freeman.

South Fulton Rosenwald has always had a rich history and tradition with rigorous academics. There were glee clubs, school plays, the first bell, and basketball and baseball teams.

The highlight of the year was always Field Day, held on the first Friday in May for all Black schools in Obion County. 

Although there was no lunch cafeteria for most of the school’s existence, children would bring their lunch or go up the hill to Hops Cafe or Vick’s Store for meals at noon. 

In 1962, several Rosenwald parents filed a successful lawsuit to the United States District Court to desegregated Obion County schools. In 1963, South Fulton Rosenwald High School was renamed South Fulton Rosenwald East, serving grades 1-8. This was the beginning of the end for the Rosenwald school.

In 1966, the school closed. It was heartbreaking for the community when only one year later, the entire school, except for the gym, burned down due to a fire started by children playing with matches in the library.

While their beloved Rosenwald School is gone, the Ken-Tenn Committee took it upon itself to restore and maintain the only remaining structure to this very day - the gymnasium. While the memories sometimes fade and buildings are destroyed by time, the legacy of Rosenwald will live on through the families of its students. With the placement of the permanent memorial marker, Rosenwald will never fade completely away lost to time.