Black History Month: Central Union High School District and San Diego State Imperial Valley celebrate with portraits, history project exhibit
EL CENTRO — Bringing talents and skills with them, African Americans built their own churches, homes, and schools in the Imperial Valley.
According to a press release from the local Imperial Valley Social Justice Committee, to celebrate Black History Month (February), the Central Union High School District has hung 21 portraits in Central, Southwest and Desert Oasis high schools to recognize local African American history. The pictures are accompanied by short excerpts from oral histories recorded over the last three years through a joint project between the Imperial Valley Social Justice Committee and San Diego State University Imperial Valley, the release reads.
Recently Central Union High School district board members, administrators and community members toured the opening of the exhibit. “They witnessed how the portraits and personal stories give students a glimpse of our communities the rich and varied history,” the release reads. “The have an opportunity to connect the struggles community elders overcame and hear about the accomplishments African Americans were able to realize through hard work and persistence,” per the document.
The public is invited to view portraits of these and other African American community members and learn more about the Oral History project at an exhibit April 6, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Steppling Gallery at San Diego State University Imperial Valley campus.
According to the release, the first African American Church in the Imperial Valley was established in the early 1900s. The Imperial Valley Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was formed in 1909. And in the early 1900’s there was a plethora of vibrant and active African American service clubs including the Order of the Elks, the Order of the Eastern Star, the Phyllis Wheatley Women’s Club and the Masons Fraternal group.
Carmelita Thames’ family traveled to the Imperial Valley in a covered wagon for the promise of free land. Jimmie Cannon, Julia Harrison Cooper, and Joyce Jones came from Hugo, Hartman, and Okmulgee Oklahoma. Lola Shambee, Daniel McGee, Willa Mae Gentry, and Mary Turner arrived from Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, and Louisiana, the press release reads.
According to an informational document from Marlene Thomas and Gretchen Laue, African American musicians, nurses and engineers; farmers, dairymen and truckers; teachers, housekeepers and small business owners, all contributed to our cultural and community richness. Many served their country in World War I, the Korean War and World War II, traveling from places where they were not allowed to walk on the sidewalk, or dream of owning their own business, African Americans came to the Imperial Valley looking for opportunities. With their talents, skills and hard work, they found them.
According to the release, Donald Walker was the first African American counselor at Central Union High School.
Willa Mae Gentry was one of two Black women employed as county nurses in 1972. Hilton Smith, Lola Shambee, Zula Tucker, and Carmelita Thames to name a few, had long and distinguished careers in law enforcement. The Performing Arts Theater at Southwest High School is named after Jimmie Cannon because of his many contributions to the school district and the community. The City of El Centro celebrated Marva Walker Day for her 39 years as a teacher at Booker T. Washington Elementary and her heralded service to the community.
Imperial County schools were once segregated. All the teachers and administrators at Booker T. Washington and Douglass High School on the eastside of El Centro, and Dunbar Elementary in Imperial were African American. Douglass High School was one of the few high schools in the nation where African American teachers could teach, according to the release. Faculty knew the value of education and instilled it in their students.
There was opportunity but there were also barriers. When El Centro schools were finally integrated, students from the eastside, walked across the tracks to Central
High School. Crossing over 4th street and walking down Orange on the “White side” of El Centro, rocks were thrown at them, they were taunted with racial slurs, per the release. At 22 years old, Albert Newton wanted to join the fire department and was denied the opportunity to apply. The chief told him, “There never was and never will be a Black fireman,” per the release. It took ten years before Newton was allowed to take the fireman’s test. He passed and was hired by the El Centro Fire Department. After a long and respected career Albert Newton retired as a Battalion Chief, the document reads.
For more information on the exhibit, Marlene Thomas can be contacted at mthomas92231@ gmail.com and Gretchen Laue can be contacted at glaue@ucsd.edu, per the release.