The Legacy of Gregory-Lincoln Education: From Freedmen's School to Community Hub
The story of Gregory-Lincoln Education Center is a rich tapestry woven from threads of emancipation, community, and the enduring pursuit of knowledge. From its origins as a school for freed people to its current iteration as a multifaceted educational and cultural center, Gregory-Lincoln embodies the transformative power of education and the resilience of Houston's African American community.
The Genesis of Gregory School: Education in Freedmen's Town
In the aftermath of the Civil War, the Freedmen's Bureau played a pivotal role in assisting formerly enslaved African Americans in their transition to freedom. Among the Bureau's most significant contributions was its support for education. Recognizing the fervent desire of freed people for knowledge, the Bureau established schools across the South, including in Texas.
The Texas Legislature authorized the creation of public schools for Freedmen's Town by 1870. The Gregory Institute emerged out of the inception of Freedman’s Town. Named after Major General Edgar M. Gregory, a key figure in the Freedmen's Bureau, the Gregory School holds the distinction of being the first school for freed people in Houston. The school first opened in 1872. By 1872 most of the students and teachers who were at the bureau schools, which were closing, left them to attend the state-managed Gregory Institute, named after Edgar M. Civil War and the assistant commissioner of the Texas area's Freedmen's Bureau.
The establishment of the Gregory School was a testament to the commitment of both the Freedmen's Bureau and the African American community to education. Funds for the private school were raised by trustees Richard Brock, Reverend Elias Dibble, Peter Noble, Reverend Sandy Parker and William Waff. Despite facing resistance from some white Texans who sought to maintain the social and economic status quo, the school thrived, providing a vital pathway to literacy and opportunity for generations of African American students.
In its early years, the Gregory Institute, founded in 1870, was established in a two-story frame building on Jefferson Avenue at Louisiana Street. The Gregory Institute became a part of the Houston public school system in 1876, with Henry C. Hardy becoming the first Black principal the following year. The school occupied three different buildings throughout its history. The first two were a brick building and a wood-frame building with two stories; the second was ruined by a fire, prompting the construction of the third. In 1893, the building was damaged by a storm, and the students of Gregory were relocated to Colored High School. In 1927, another new two-story, 20,000 square foot brick building was built on the grounds and the 1903 building was used as a cafeteria. During the same year, the school was renamed to Gregory Elementary School. Circa the 1920s the school was adjacent to the lake, and the area often flooded, with students and staff needing to pass through watery corridors.
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From Gregory Elementary to Gregory-Lincoln Education Center
Students continued to attend classes there until 1980, when the Houston Independent School District closed it due to low enrollment and a decaying structure. Gregory Elementary School merged with Lincoln Junior High School to become Gregory-Lincoln Education Center. The Houston Independent School District (HISD) operated two schools in the Fourth Ward in the 1979-1980 school year: Gregory Elementary and Lincoln Junior High School. In the period before its closure, it was a K-8 school separate from what was initially Lincoln Junior-Senior High School.
Originally built in 1966 as Lincoln Junior and Senior High School, it later operated as Lincoln Junior High School until Gregory Elementary School merged into it in 1980, forming Gregory-Lincoln. One namesake is Edgar M. The first campus for the Lincoln Junior-Senior School was built in 1966. The original campus was a three-story brick building. It served as a neighborhood secondary school for a section of Montrose. Thorne Dreyer and Al Reinert of Texas Monthly wrote that HISD officials at the time called it "the most successfully integrated school in the city." However some white families assigned to Lincoln avoided the school by way of private school, moving to another school zone, or renting an apartment in another school zone. A parent-teacher organization was formed despite the disadvantaged backgrounds of some families. Beginning in 1969, a desegregation program, initially funded by parishioners of the First Presbyterian Church and operated by the Emergency School Assistance Programs, a federal government initiative to support schools that racially integrated, began. It was initially both a junior and senior high school, and also became the campus of Houston Community High School, an HISD magnet school. At a later point it was solely Lincoln Junior High School.
In 1972, there were 1,336 students attending Lincoln Junior-Senior High. The resident children of APV attend the Gregory Elementary School or the Lincoln Junior-Senior High School. The Gregory School accommodates from kindergarten through the eighth grade. Approximately 512 students within this school.
Gregory-Lincoln Today: A Hub of Education and Community Engagement
Edgar Gregory-Abraham Lincoln Education Center (GLEC) is a K-8 school located at 1101 Taft in the Fourth Ward area of Houston, Texas, United States. Gregory-Lincoln is a part of the Houston Independent School District (HISD) and has a fine arts magnet program that takes students in both the elementary and middle school levels. In 2000, the district announced that the Gregory-Lincoln would receive a new campus that would be on the site of the old campus.
The current $13.5 million, 114,000-square-foot (10,600 m2) school building was financed by the $808.6 million 2002 Rebuild HISD bond. On Monday, December 31, 2007, the two story current Gregory Lincoln building opened. As of January 2008 it has about 500 students. The demolition of the original campus was scheduled to begin in January 2008. The district planned to grade the land and place an athletic field for middle school students and a playground for elementary school students. As a result of the May 2009 closing of J. As the result of the 2011 closing of E.O.
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From 2009 to 2019 each Gregory-Lincoln principal had a term of two years or fewer. As a fine arts magnet school, Gregory-Lincoln integrates arts into its curriculum. All students must wear red, grey, or black polo shirts.
Breakthrough Houston (BTH) opened its doors in 1995 with a small class of 7th grade students and a handful of teachers. With its innovative students-teaching-students model, the program saw immediate success by pledging to serve its students for six years - from middle school through high school graduation. At first it was known as Summerbridge, but soon became part of the national Breakthrough Collaborative (which was founded in 1978). Breakthrough’s original program began at St. John’s School (for the Summer Program) and Episcopal High School (for the School Year Program), recruiting students from HISD and various charter schools. The second BTH site opened in 2016 in conjunction with Connect Community, serving students in Gulfton and Sharpstown. We opened a 3rd site in Summer 2019 at Gregory Lincoln Education Center, serving students in the HISD Achieve 180 schools. BTH is proud of our mission and historical achievements. The College Bound Program, which officially began in 2008, has now graduated 11 classes of seniors with a 99% college acceptance rate. Ten years ago, we trained 24 Teaching Fellows for careers in education; in 2020, we will train 96.Here at Breakthrough, we’re excited to expand the access to quality education and look forward to providing opportunities to more Houston students and future classroom teachers.
Gregory-Lincoln Education Center is a fine arts magnet pre-K through 8th grade school on a 15- acre campus with many low-income and food-insecure students. In the 2011-2012 school year 14 raised gardens beds for vegetables, berries and herbs were installed and planted; the curriculum is called the Cultivated Classroom. Students grow organic food that they prepare and eat while learning about sustainability, science, math, reading, social studies and nutrition. Staple crops include squashes, tomatoes, cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage and cauliflower, berries, lettuces, beans and okra, some flowers and herbs. Other vegetables are planted each year on a trial basis. The initial garden has been expanded to include four more raised beds, 20 fruit trees, a chicken coop called The Chick-Inn, a grape arbor at the entrance, and a pollinator garden. The lay-out includes a reading circle, tool shed, compost center, picnic tables, a wash station and benches. Learning about healthy eating is an important aspect of the program, including acquiring food preparation skills for a lifetime, and cooking and learning about careers in the food industry at a nearby restaurant. Helpers in the garden include school staff, Urban Harvest employees, parents, and neighborhood volunteers who participate in a monthly "dig-it" day of weeding, mulching, and additional planting.
The African American Library at the Gregory School: Preserving History and Culture
Over the next 20 years, the building sat unoccupied and vacant falling into further disrepair. The City of Houston acquired the property from the Houston Independent School District during the spring of the new millennium. And within two years, plans were in progress by then Mayor Lee P. In 2008, the Houston Public Library began restoring the building and opened on November 14, 2009 becoming the newest of three special collections operated by the Houston Public Library. Renovation of the Gregory School began in 2008. In February 2009 the developers of the library asked local residents for memorabilia that the library can use in its exhibits. The library was scheduled to open on November 14, 2009. Renovations took about one and one half years. As part of the renovation process, the school's windows were removed, restored, and reinstalled, and the brick on the east, south, and west sides of the building was cleaned and preserved. The north side received a set of matching bricks. The library's appearance is intended to match its original 1926 appearance. The library opened by December 2009. The library system digitized some of the materials it received so the material would be available online as well as in person.
Today the African American Library at the Gregory School serves as a research center to promote and preserve African American History and culture in the Houston Area. The Oral History Collection represents a wealth of under-documented experiences from a few of Houston’s outstanding residents that uncover the tradition and historical past of Houston’s wards, civil rights, integration, enterprise homeowners, neighborhood institutions, and far more.
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African American Library at the Gregory School is a branch of the Houston Public Library (HPL) in the Fourth Ward, Houston. The library preserves historical information about the African American community in Houston and the surrounding regions. It is the city's first library to focus on African American history and culture. The library features galleries, an oral history recording room, and reading rooms. $11 million from federal community development block grants and construction funds from Houston Public Library and the City of Houston financed the renovation of the Gregory facility.
In November 2010 members of the Gregory Library Watch, a group started in January 2010, accused the library of deliberately not archiving certain historical documents.
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