On Saturday, February 16th, the New Vision Youth of Kingsport and Riverview community leaders visited the Swift Memorial - Price Public School Museum in Historic Rogersville, Tennessee.
In 1868, a group of black community leaders purchased a plot of land on Hasson Street "for the purpose of building a schoolhouse for the education of colored children." In 1870, a two-room log school was erected and was used until 1922 when construction of this modern facility was begun. It is constructed of hand-fired bricks. The School was placed on the National Historical Register in 1988. One of the schoolrooms is devoted to a museum of Swift College and Price School memorabilia.
Swift Memorial College was a historically black college that operated in East Tennessee from 1883 to 1952. It was founded in Rogersville by the , a graduate of Maryville College and the African American pastor of a local Presbyterian congregation. Like many early black colleges, the institution focused on high school and normal school (teacher education) curriculum.
BELOW IS A SLIDESHOW OF THE VISIT:
