It's elementary

I heard a couple last night while out with friends at Maple View for ice cream (since it is close):

* Maple View Elementary
* Moo U

And my favorite -- since it seems to be out in the middle of nowhere (from my southern CH perspective): BFE

I hope we have a road (Rosemary) and/or a school named after Malcolm X. :)

Dean Smith Elementary School, or to honor his parents, who were both school teachers, Alfred and Vesta Smith Elementary School

Plenty of people have suggested Morris Grove Elementary, and I think that's a great idea. Not only does it sound great, but I can't think of a more appropriate name for an elementary school on that site.

"Morris Grove Elementary School, named for the former slave who built it in the late 1800s, is a ramshackle structure at the edge of the Eubanks Road tract that will eventually be home to Chapel Hill-Carrboro's next elementary school."

The quote is from the second item on this page. http://www.chapelhillnews.com/opinion/roses_rasp/v-print/story/5492.html

Hi all-

Along with my friends Meg McGurk and Susan Worley, I have been talking up the Morris Grove idea with school board members ever since Doug Eyre and Patrick Wynn ran stories on Morris Hogan in the Chapel Hill News last year. Morris Hogan was the child of a slave and her owner who was a member of the Hogan family. The school he started for black children was called "Morris Grove".

Here are links to the key stories and info that I found on where Morris Hogan and his wife are buried.

Using the Morris Grove name would be such a relevant way to teach children in Chapel Hill about all aspects of the town's history. I am really hoping the board will adopt that name for Elementary #10.

Doug Eyre Story:

http://www.chapelhillnews.com/features/story/3737.html

Patrick Winn Story:

http://www.chapelhillnews.com/news/story/5372.html

Info about where Morris Hogan and his wife Panthia are buried.

http://cemeterycensus.com/nc/orng/cem034.htm

Frankly, I cannot think of a more appropriate name for the new school than Morris Grove, and honoring the former slave who founded the school is long overdue. My father attended this school; there are other African Americans, too, who remember and attended the school and still live in the area.

The CHCCS Communications Office just issued a release explaining a way to give input on the name for Elementary #10. I remain passionate that the best name is Morris Grove Elementary. If you agree I encourage you to follow this link to the district's survey site to let them know. The link expires October 31. If you haven't looked at this thread before please have a look at the last few comments to see why Morris Grove is such a great name.

http://research.zarca.com/clients/ChapelHill/survey.aspx?sid=62

Morris Grove!
Morris Grove!
Morris Grove!

Cheryl Johnston Sadgrove did a great job closing the circle on the Morris Grove story.

Cheryl Johnston Sadgrove, Staff Writer
CHAPEL HILL - At the turn of the last century, some black students in Orange County learned to read and write in a one-room schoolhouse called Morris Grove School.

Next school year, elementary students of all races will attend its namesake near Old N.C. 86 and Eubanks Road.

On Thursday night, the school board of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district unanimously approved the name Morris Grove Elementary School.

"I think this is a unique opportunity to go back in history and really honor an African-American who does what we want, and that's to support the children in this community," board member Jean Hamilton said.

The honored African-American is Morris Hogan, who was born to a slave and her master in the 1850s. Once he was emancipated, he became a successful farmer, owning and operating two farms near the school sites.

In the 1880s, Hogan gained permission from the Orange County school board to create a school for black children on his land. He used his own money to build the school, which his own children and some of his grandchildren attended.

Reached by phone Thursday at her home in California, Ida Horton Walker, Hogan's 96-year-old granddaughter, was tickled with the news of the honor for her grandfather.

"Oh! I'm just so happy!" she said. "I have been living for that."

Walker remembers that as a little girl growing up in Durham, she would come home with her mother, Anna, to help with wheat thrashings and corn huskings. Her grandfather always took interest in the children, and he emphasized education, encouraging all of his sons to go to college and his daughters to marry men who were educated.

"He was right out of slavery, but he had a passion for education," Walker said.

She describes Hogan as someone who kept up with the news of the day. He and her grandmother, Pantha, would go to court when it was in session in Hillsborough to listen. Neighbors sometimes looked to Hogan like a social worker to help solve their problems, and he was active in his church.

Last year, Walker contacted Doug Eyre, who writes a historical column for The Chapel Hill News, to talk about her grandfather and the school. She didn't know that the school district was opening an elementary school on the property near where the old schoolhouse -- expanded, covered with brick and in disrepair -- still stands.

"I wanted my grandfather's life to go down in history in North Carolina, because I thought it was important enough," Walker said.

cheryl.sadgrove@newsobserver.com or (919) 932-2005