Bayou Paul Colored School on the National Register of Historic Places

Amanda Grace, the only teacher at the Bayou Paul Colored School for nineteen years, was a rangy woman. Standing tall at 6’1”, she had a pleasant smile, her son Reginald Grace recalled. “Her former students told me she would get tough when she needed to, though. She was very straightforward and strict about her classroom.”

Ms. Grace was a pioneer at the St. Gabriel, La., school. College educated, she was a God-fearing woman who believed in education. She taught kindergarten through eighth grades in the one-room schoolhouse from 1936 until its closing in 1955. Though she passed in 2004, her legacy will forever live on. In January, the school was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Biologically, Ms. Grace had four children; but to those who stepped foot into her classroom, she had many, many more. She taught more than education. She taught discipline, manners, and life skills. She helped the children cook their lunches (at a cost of 10 cents) and instructed them in how to clean up after themselves. During the winter months, the students would be responsible for feeding the coal-burning stove; and during the summer, Ms. Grace would take part in the students’ recess games. In the rural agricultural community of St. Gabriel, community and family were one and the same.

“Everybody in the community pitched in,” Reginald said. “Some of the kids, they were too young to go to school, but my mom would keep them anyway.”

Ms. Grace essentially taught pre-K as well. She’d occupy the younger children before instructing one group of students and moving on to another. Those she taught have gone on to become doctors, teachers, and professionals.“I think it’s important to let folks know the struggles that poor African Americans went through to get an education,” Reginald said. “In spite of those difficulties, a lot of them went on to be successful. If those people can make it during that time with limited resources, what’s the excuse for young folks now?”

The one-room schoolhouse was constructed in 1920 by the United Sons and Daughters Benevolent Society, a private African American organization; the land was purchased for just $25. Though the schoolhouse was constructed poorly, its original framework, including a tin roof, wooden floors, and wooden walls, still stands today. The structure, now named the Bayou Paul Colored Elementary School Museum, was moved in 2006 to the Amanda Grace Memorial Park, roughly a half mile from its original location.