African American Education

Plan to attend the program “The Little Town with a Big Heart” on February 21, 2026, at 1:30pm at at Sumner’s new City Hall, 224 S. Christy Ave. Free admittance and refreshment courtesy of the city of Sumner.  Presentation by George Zwilling.

Local Black history in Lawrence County is a source of deep pride: it is the story of resilience, creativity, faith, entrepreneurship, and the leaders, families, churches, schools, and businesses that built and sustained this place against long odds. At the same time we must honestly acknowledge the painful chapters that are not a source of pride—lynching, legal segregation, and the terror and hatred spread by groups like the Ku Klux Klan—and name them for what they were: crimes against humanity and stains on our shared past.

In the Southern states where slavery was practiced, education was prohibited. The Illinois education law of 1823 stipulated free common schools exclusively for white students. Analysis of the 1850 census reveals that a majority of African Americans who settled in Lawrence County possessed literacy skills. Given their appreciation for education, it is likely they sought educational opportunities for their children as well.

Two deeds speak to the accreditation of early black education in Lawrence County. Tilford Portee, a free Black from Kentucky, purchased a government patent for 40 acres in 1852 and sold ½ acre of this land to the Directors of School District #5, T4NR11W for fifteen dollars on April 29,1879. This school would have been located about one mile east of Blackburn School and 1 mile south of Cole School. By 1903, this school was not in existence, because the students had been integrated into Blackburn and other area schools.

Emanuel and Sarah Cole were free Blacks who owned land about three quarters of a mile east of Pinkstaff.  They were paid eight dollars a year earlier on August 2, 1878, by the School Directors of District #7, T4NR11W for a corner of their property on which to construct a frame school. Some of the early teachers were Sam Van Cleave, Bennie Payne, Versie Anderson and George Kendall.   In 1903, the Board employed Floyd Meeks as the teacher and paid him $30 a month.   This Cole school is listed in the Superintendent’s records as of 1903 but disappears soon thereafter.  These students were integrated into Derr School (1/2 mile east) and other nearby schools. 

AMANDA  POWELL CASEY- African America Teacher

     Amanda Casey was an educated, spiritual, poetic woman of her day. She was born in Gibson County, Indiana to Cato Powell and Louisa Nolcox Powell on September 10, 1871. Amanda’s father was born into slavery in Kentucky in 1845. He joined the Union Army in 1864 and served with a heavy artillery unit until being discharged in 1865. After the civil War, he settled in Gibson County, Indiana where he prospered and became a large landowner.

  Early education for Amanda was in the Lyles Station Community School in Gibson County, Indiana. Upon graduation in 1888, she went on to attend college in Indiana to become a legally qualified teacher. In 1892, Amanda married Robert Hardiman and had a son Noah, in 1893.

Divorced, a few years later, she and Noah moved to the Pinkstaff, Illinois area and Amanda took a position as a teacher. She was listed in the Sumner Press Newspaper as a teacher for the Portee School, from 1895 through 1897. The Portee School was an African American, one room school located one mile south of Pinkstaff. A copy of her teaching contract is preserved at the Lawrence County History Center. She was hired at a salary of $30.00 for 22 days a month, 6 hours a day. Amanda agreed to follow all school regulations such as reporting student attendance and filing school reports. She also agreed to take care of the furniture, records and books. Sweeping the floor and building a fire on winter days were also in her contract. The Portee School closed before the turn of the century and students integrated into the nearby Fairview and Derr Schools.

Amanda married Benjamin Franklin Casey in November of 1897. They had three sons and four daughters. Amanda and Frank had purchased several parcels of land in the Pinkstaff area to be used as rental properties. Frank died at the age of 54 in 1927, due to lingering health issues. After his death, Amanda continued to maintain the rental properties.

  The Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church was an important part of Amanda’s life. She served as Sunday School teacher, Stewardess, Sunday School Superintendent, and Deaconess of the A.M.E. Illinois Conference. Amanda was sought after as a counselor and for guidance to many individuals in the community. She wrote poetry over the years and shared her writings with her church family. None of her poetry was published but the family has a book of her work. Amanda died peacefully at her home in Pinkstaff, Illinois on January 16, 1961. She is buried at the Portee Cemetery, east of Pinkstaff. Today, (2026) the Amanda Casey home is still standing on the south end of Pinkstaff, Illinois.

In 1954 the US Supreme Court ruled racial segregation unconstitutional in Brown vs Board of Education.  Despite that federal ruling, black students were still denied entry in white schools in the South and other parts of the country. It was necessary for President Eisenhower to intervene and order federal troops to escort the ‘Little Rock Nine’ safely to school and enforce the law in September 1957. 

Photos and records of Lawrence county school children in the early 1900’s (FIVE decades before the Brown vs. Board of Education lawsuit) show classes of mixed color at various rural schools such as Blackburn, Derr, Pinkstaff, Waters, Pleasant Ridge, Glade, East Pinkstaff, and Pinhook. The town schools were integrated from the beginning of their existence.

Cole School 1904