Phillips School

The Phillips School in Winn Parish, Louisiana (near Atlanta and Emden), was built in 1918 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 10, 2000 (NRHP reference No. 00000073).
Key details about the historic school include:
• History: Founded to serve African-American children in the community who lacked access to public schools, it operated from 1918 until it closed in 1955, educating roughly 1,850 students.
• Architecture: It is a 41-by-30-foot, one-room wood-frame building with a hipped roof, weatherboard siding, and low concrete or brick pier foundations.
• Legacy: Former slaves Bill and Frances Phillips were instrumental in establishing the school and the adjacent New Bethlehem Church (c. 1908)

Submitter: Stafford Davis
The following is an article written by Margeree Pearson and published in the Winn Parish Enterprise 27 April 2000

The Phillips School, which served the Emden community in this one-room building from 1918 to 1955, has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. This was the effort of several former students, family members and a former teacher Lula Mae Thomas.

The Phillips school was not the typical school of today. It was founded on the principals that education would improve your life and your total existence. It was a state accredited one-room school with a wood burning heater and kerosene lamps where the teacher was also the schools principal. Classes consisted of the "3 R's," Reading, "Riting" (writing), and "Rethmetic" (arithmetic).

The school's benefactors were William (Bill) and Francis Phillips. The Phillips were civic and community minded people. They devoted their time, effort, and land for the establishment of the school and the New Bethlehem Baptist Church.

In the next few weeks, information and pictures about the school will be placed on the Internet web site of the National Register of Historic Places. On May 6, 2000, at 1:00 p.m., a dedication ceremony will be held at the site, where a bronzed plaque will be placed on the Phillips School. The school is located at 1950 Harrisonburg Road next to the New Bethlehem Baptist Church in Atlanta, La. Come and share in the joy and pride of this American History.

Some of the former students that I am personally acquainted with are Morell Fobbs, Ivy Pennywell, Isa D. Willis Hobdy, Glondell Howard, Quincy V. Howard, Bernadine Willis Peters, Linnie D. Mosley Sapp, Charles Melvin Willis, Dessarine Phillips Smith and Vernon Recee Pennywell, Sr.

Students were of the following families: CARTER, CRAWFORD, CRENSHAW, FOBBS, FORD, HARRELL, HAYES, HENRY, HOUSTON, HOWARD, HUNT, JOHNSON, LONDON, MATHIS, McCAIN, McMILLON, McWRIGHT, MORGAN, MOSLEY, PEATS, PENNYWELL, PHILLIPS, RODGERS, SAPP, SHELTON, SMITH, STANLEY, STARKS, WALKER, WATKINS, WILLIS and WILSON.

*The Phillips Certificate above: Phillips School Certificate of Dessarine Phillips; Winn Par., Louisiana
1944 Elementary School Certificate
Submitted by: Stafford Davis
State of [seal] Louisiana
State Department of Education

Elementary Negro School Certificate
This Certifies That Dessarine Phillips has completed the Elementary ??? ??? ??? of the Negro ??? school ?system? of Louisiana ?and? ?is? ??? by the United States Department of Education, and is, therefore, eligible ?to? promotion to the high-school grades of State approved negro high schools, and is awarded this certificate as evidence of graduation from the elementary grades of Phillips School at Winn Parish.

Given this 28th day of April 1944
[seven signatures and titles...difficult to read]

Photo: State Spelling Certificate of Emanuel Fobbs; Winn Par., Louisiana
Submitted by: Stafford Davis

State of [seal] Louisiana
State Department of Education
Baton Rouge, April 15, 1919

State Spelling Test
Held March 27th and 28th, 1919
Group ????? Parish of Winn

This is to Certify that Emanuel Fobbs of the Phillips Colored school, participated in the State Spelling Test of March the twenty-seventh and twenty-eight and spelled correctly all of the Nine Hundred words in the text, scoring On Hundred per cent. By order of the State Board of Education this certificate is awarded? as evidence of the appreciation of perfect results occurred in the important subject of spelling.

[six signatures and titles...difficult to read]

Contributor's Note: The certificate was awarded to Emanuel Fobbs, a student at Phillips Colored School, in 1919 for correctly spelling 500 words in a two-day test. The Phillips School was located near New Bethlehem Church in the Emden Community southeast of Atlanta in southeastern Winn Parish. Morell Fobbs, Emanuel's brother, remembers Emanuel talking about the test and saying that he went blank on the last word. He said it was one of the easiest words on the test and nerves caused him to miss it. When he regained his composure, the word came to him and he found himself shouting out "S-A-U-S-A-G-E"!

Old and New Phillips School
Submitter: Stafford Davis