“I am what I am because of the Booker T. Washington High School teachers; they cared about me. They told us and convinced us that we would become whatever you wanted to be. The teachers made us better and inspired us to become someone. When we left high school and went out into world, and we took our teachers with us.”
Otis Cooper

And to continue with Mr. Cooper’s comments, those teachers are certainly with us today as displayed by the many generous and thoughtful acts of their students—individuals I interviewed during my visit to Rocky Mount. Kindness seemed to be the dominate trait of everyone I met during my research visit. From the moment I sent my initial queries—mailed to Clara Knight, Mary Perry, and the ever helpful Genevieve Lancaster—all responded with generosity. And, while conducting interviews at the high school, now the Opportunities Industrialization Center, I was so touched that Mr. Reuben C. Blackwell, IV would visit and extend a thoughtful and kind welcome. I appreciate all gestures of kindness and care that I believe have become natural to the ever-alive Booker T. Washington High School extended community.

My research on the high school is far from over with the launching of this web exhibition. The origins of the strong progressive education tradition at Booker T. Washington High School remain a mystery, even with Principal Pope’s fine autobiography, and I will continue searching for those students who appear in the BTW group photograph.

With the joy stemming from my Rocky Mount visit, I also have great sadness. The extensive demands of this far-reaching scholarship, coupled with my professional responsibilities as curator and professor at University of South Carolina, caused delays. And, for this reason, the lovely John Perry will never know how important his comments were to my research. Further, the kind Mr. Perry will never learn of the profound impact that he had on my life—how in his gentle way he could convey a sense of calm and good cheer. I cherish the moments I stood next to him, silently, as we smiled and looked at Booker T. Washington High School documents. With his passing, he will never know his influence on me; however, to paraphrase Mr. Cooper’s earlier quote, when I left Rocky Mount and went out into world, I took a bit of John Perry with me.

John Perry

I thank Genevieve Lancaster for her great help and assistance during the past years, and I hope that Booker T. Washington High School students feel that I have done justice to the memory of this remarkable school.

Craig Kridel
Curator, The Museum of Education
E. S. Gambrell Professor of Educational Studies

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