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Old class pics to go back where they came from; Bethune alumni favor
spot at Bethune
By MARY EVA CASSADA
Special to The News & Record
The old class photos of Halifax County High graduates will be returned
to the same walls they came from at what is now the middle school – but
the old photos from Mary Bethune High may go back to Mary Bethune.
The composite photos were removed from the walls to the north of the
middle school’s cafeteria during major renovation in 2006, but alumni,
who had spent their youth at the building when it was a brand-new
consolidated high school for white students, pressed for the pictures’
return. They were adamant that the pictures not go to the museum, not
go to the current high school and not be scattered among private
residences.
The School Board agreed to restore the old photos, which depict every
class member from 1953 to 1969.
Meanwhile, because the Halifax class photos are largely lily-white, the
board put out a call for class photos from the old Mary Bethune High
School, the public school for African-Americans prior to integration.
The idea was to show the diversity of local heritage.
Some came forth, but Trustee Walter Potts said this week that Mary
Bethune alumni seem partial to having their photos re-hung at their old
building, what’s now the Mary Bethune Office Complex in Halifax, which
houses local government offices.
“That decision has not been made and probably will not be made for a
while yet,” said Board Chairman Steve Anderson in an e-mail. “As to a
timetable, that is not certain at this point either. There are some
pictures still being repaired by Swanson Photography and I do not
anticipate any class pictures being re-hung until all are ready to be
placed.”Cecile Ford, HCHS Class of 1966, said she was happy with the
outcome and that “other classes [will be] just as pleased.”