Douglass Grove School

Township of Arden, Berkeley County, Martinsburg, West Virginia. Unbeknownst to me at that time, I had the tremendous opportunity to flick a pic, circa late 1990's, from the front portico of the Douglass Grove School. Built in the late 1800's during the post Civil War Reconstruction Era, the school came to fruition at times of thickened and raw racial relationships in the South. To comprehend a time of learning when relations were as unequal and separated is mind blowing to me. How does a nation grow when inequality is accepted? What a time to survive and try to make the ends meet. What predicaments the underserved must have endured. At the time of my Douglass Grove School selfie, I did not recognize the historical significance of the property until I discovered "The Berkeley Journal" at a local historical society. The journal refers to the school as the "Douglass Grove Black School." For me to purchase the book was a no brainer. After all, I was sitting at the doorstep of history. We worked in a set of woods nearby. We took a break and some respite at the front door of the school. Before the school was built of brick, it's original wooden structure burned. I sat on the mid-mod recliner that was discarded decades ago. I flipped through my muscle magazine. I probably ate some crackers and sipped some water. I found the spirits in the scene and they made me feel at home. Students and teachers, aspiring through unthinkable, unethical adversities. The students who walked up and down the front steps and through the front door must have been determined in the face of the current culture of Reconstruction Era in rural West Virginia. The entire template gives me goosebumps and the yearn to learn the history and pay tribute to the fortitude of those students and teachers. To sit in the one room schoolhouse and listen to the bygone teachings at the beginnings of a foothold on the march for equity is truly inspirational.

My selfie, taken with the timer set on my Canon SURE SHOT MAXDate, will always adjust my aperture to our country and expose the inequities that continue to be zoomed in on. The perseverance to forge a path of education with possible retaliation is unthinkable. That thought is enough to make any student distraught. But, perseverance persisted until the opportunities were uplifted. These words fill my skin with the goosebumps. Finding a path while enduring the predicament of prejudice is the ultimate purpose of persistent perseverance. My humbling opportunity to look inside the windows of history will live immortally in my conscience. Any educator would find humility if they stood on the doorstep of the "Douglass Grove School."

Thank you to "The Berkeley Journal" for the enlightenment!