West Virginia South July 2023 | Page 44

AROUND TOWN �

STRATTON ELEMENTARY

ONE LAST SCHOOL DAY

Photos by Rick Barbero
Once the Black high school in Beckly , Stratton High School evolved over the years but not until the U . S . Supreme Court ordered 21 states practicing racial segregation to end the injustice “ with all deliberate speed .” Thirteen years after Brown v . Board of Education decided in 1954 that the “ separate but equal ” standards of racial segregation were unconstitutional , the high school became a junior high and then , in its final years , an elementary school . In the fall of 2023 , students will be reporting to a new Stratton at the same location . In May , there was one last day at the old , historic school , which was named in honor of the Rev . Daniel Stratton , who , though born a slave , learned to read and write through public education and went on to become a minister .

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