Remembering Lewis Hall
Principal’s legacy full of service to community
Editor’s note: The following article was contributed by Greg Gray from the Polk County Historical Society.
Lewis Emory Hall, one of four children, was born free on February 22, 1856, in Frederick City, Maryland to the parents Richard Alexander Hall and Eliza I. Black Hall.
He was educated in Washington, D. C. and later taught at the first school for freedmen at Quinn Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Frederick.
In January, 1880, his father, the Rev. R. A. Hall, an African Methodist Episcopal Minister, was transferred to the Macon conference in Georgia. The family settled in Atlanta where Rev. Hall ministered the Bethel AME church family. He later became one of the founding trustees of Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia.
During the family’s first year in Georgia, L. E. Hall met and married Nannie Mignon Jones of Newman, Georgia. She was born and educated in Georgia and complemented her husband in his work as a teacher. Nannie and L. E. were parents of twelve children, of whom six reached adulthood.
On January 12, 1888, according to L. E. Hall’s diary, he “arrived i n Cedartown, Georgia to take charge of Public School. Elected principal with two assistants and a salary of $40.00 a month.”
The first school for Negroes in Cedartown opened on January 25, 1888. The three-room school house was located on what was Gordon Street, now North Main. It accommodated grades 1-8 and was called “Cedartown Colored Public School.”
The enrollment in 1888 was small but by 1895, the Cedartown Standard, dated Sept. 5, observed:
“The colored school started out with the largest enrollment on the first day in history of that school. Sixty pupils entered the first day, and the principal Prof L. E. Hall, looks for a larger attendance.”
Nannie Hall and the children moved to Cedartown in 1890 from Cartersville, where the family had lived since 1882. The family house, purchased unfinished, and lot on 532 Jones Street, was purchased from J. J. Lampton on September 1, 1890. It remained the family home until 1976, when Ernestine Hall Pryor moved to Maryland.
“The Cedartown Watchman”, a weekly newspaper published for the moral, intellectual and material elevation of the Negro in general and those of Cedartown and Polk County, Georgia in particular,” was first published in 1895 by L. E Hall and Rev. P. G. Simmons He wrote on September 13, 1895 that the paper had “taken the field to advocate morality, intelligence, and religion among our people, and to encourage the getting of homes, the learning of trades and following those pursuits, that will cause the Negro to be respected.
Mr. L. E. Hall’s three- room, frame building located on Gordon Street was the birthplace of Cedar Hill High School.
Like most schools for Negroes in small towns and rural Georgia during this time, the school provided classes through the seventh grade. It was not deemed a “High School” until the eighth grade was added. Eighth grade was considered first year high school by the Georgia State Department of Education. Over a period of many years the school developed into a Senior High School by adding one grade at a time.
Under the able leadership of Mr. Hall, the school prospered, and in 1915 it was relocated to a new four-room, brick building on Cedar Hill Street, now known as Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.
Mr. Hall continued to serve as principal until his death in 1924
Mr E. D. Curry was named principal after the death of Mr. Hall. Under his productive administration, the school was officially designated a “Senior High School;” four additional classrooms and a principal’s office were added to the school plant in 1932; and the school was fully accredited by the Georgia State Department of Education by the time he resigned in 1936.
Mr. A. Z. Traylor succeeded Mr. Curry as principal in 1936, and served in that capacity for four years. During his tenure, the school grounds were improved and beautified, specifically: walkways and sidewalks were paved; the physical education program was improved; a program to upgrade the faculty was continued; and school records were placed in good order.
In September, 1940, Mr. Robert Anderson Bryant became principal and remained in that position for twenty-one years. His years of service as principal are ranked second, only to Mr. Hall. During Mr. Bryant’s administration.
Cedar Hill High School was recognized statewide as an outstanding small Negro High School.
In addition to fulfilling the goals and objectives as set forth by his predecessors, Mr. Bryant led the faculty in upgrading the curriculum and initiated an in-service program aimed at improving instruction.
In 1956, the high school grades were moved to a new school site located at 402 East Ellawood Street. This greatly improved the opportunity for faculty
Cedartown Standard
and staff members to accomplish many of the school objectives and provide effective instructional programs for all students.
Numerous extracurricular programs were offered and students were afforded the opportunity to develop their individual talents. Students participated in state and district competitions for drama, band, chorus, basketball, football, track, and field.
The school colors were purple and gold; the school song was written in the late 1940’s by a group of choral students; and the school mascot was the Panther.
Cedar Hill High School was the first Negro school in the state to implement a self-study and invite a Visiting Committee to come in and evaluate. The school was accredited by the Georgia Accreditation Commission and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
Low enrollment, limited staff and facilities made it impossible for a comprehensive program to be offered. However, the vast majority of students who attended Cedar Hill High School have taken their rightful places as good solid citizens in the community and throughout the country. Many have attended leading colleges and universities throughout the nation and have earned various degrees in medicine, engineering, nursing, education and pharmacology.
In September, 1969, all high school grades were transferred to Cedartown High School as part of the desegregation plan. This brought to an end the existence of Cedar Hill High School Yet, the memory and spirit of this viable, productive, and outstanding institution of learning lives on in the hearts of many.
‘The colored school started out with the largest enrollment on the first day in history of that school. Sixty pupils entered the first day, and the principal Prof. L. E. Hall, looks for a larger attendance.’
Sept. 5, 1895 editio