The third annual Willow Hill Heritage Festival will feature the opening of a new museum exhibit spotlighting the legacy of local African-American educator William James and the school named for him.
Saturday’s festival at the Historic Willow Hill School also brings an accomplished Willow Hill alumnus, Bishop Raleigh Lee Jr., as speaker for the prayer breakfast.
The breakfast will begin the day’s events at the site, now the Willow Hill Heritage and Renaissance Center, at 9 a.m. The festival activities will be open from noon until 6 p.m. These include food and merchandise vending, tours of the history exhibits, and a Kids Zone with games and inflatables. Statesboro Regional Library genealogist Janice Strickland is slated to lead a genealogy workshop with a focus on resources for African-American family histories.
A central exhibit at the Willow Hill Center tells the story of the Willow Hill community and school in the context of African-American life and education in Bulloch County from the end of slavery through the civil rights era. This year’s new addition adds to this story by focusing on the role of Professor William James, who in 1907 founded the City Colored School in Statesboro.
It became City Colored Industrial School three years later, reflecting James’ involvement with Booker T. Washington and his “industrial school” movement. Many students who completed seventh grade at Willow Hill continued their education at James’ school, which was again renamed, becoming Statesboro High and Industrial School, said Dr. Alvin Jackson, the president of the Willow Hill Heritage and Renaissance Center.
“Over time we want to develop this exhibit to really show the development of African-American education. …, “ Jackson said. “Professor William James was so important in this.”
James was a graduate of Atlanta Baptist College, later Morehouse College. The Willow Hill Center’s exhibits will also illustrate the influence of historically black colleges and universities, such as Morehouse College and Savannah State University, on teacher education and the growth of community schools, Jackson said.
James died in 1935, and the school he had founded was renamed William James High School in his honor in 1948. Today, William James Middle School, as part of the Bulloch County school system, carries on the tribute to James’ leadership in the development of local education.
The exhibit to be dedicated Saturday spotlights James’ life, as well as the school and his further educational legacy. It includes a photo of his mother, who was born into slavery, and the earliest known class photo from the school, dating from 1921, when there were 15 graduates.
The words of the William James High School alma mater are part of the exhibit, as is information about the lives of some of the graduates.
The Willow Hill Center’s research has identified all William James School principals from 1907 until desegregation in 1969, as well as about 225 teachers, Jackson said. Over time, he hopes to add brief biographies of each.
During this weekend’s festival, the Willow Hill Center will supplement its collection of recordings of area voices on historical topics with new interviews, Jackson said.
“We will be doing some more audio recordings on the history of William James, and if anyone wants to share any additional history on Willow Hill, we’ll take those recordings as well,” he said. “These are great stories. These are American stories where we are preserving the history of a people who under struggle and hardship became great American citizens.”
One exemplar of the Great Migration of African-Americans from the South northward is Saturday’s prayer breakfast speaker, Bishop Raleigh Lee Jr.
Lee, now the pastor of Mount Olive Holy Temple Church in Lincoln Heights, Ohio, was born in Bulloch County and attended Willow Hill Elementary and Willow Hill Junior High School. During his childhood, Lee sang with his family and some family friends as the Starlight Pilgrim Jubilees. The gospel group performed live on Statesboro radio station WWNS on Sunday mornings for four years.
He was the fifth of the 12 children of Deacon Raleigh Lee Sr. and Minister Alice Smith Lee.
The family moved to Ohio in 1955. Sensing a call to be a minister, Lee attended Berean Bible Institute in Cincinnati and Muskegon Bible Institute in Michigan, and later Bethel Bible College in Cincinnati, where he received his doctorate. Lee has since been involved in establishing a number of churches.
Organizers request a $15 donation for the prayer breakfast. Festival admission is free.
An exhibit that opened last year on the history of black Primitive Baptist churches will also be open for tours during Saturday’s exhibit.
The center is on Willow Hill Road, off U.S. Highway 80 near Portal. For more information, or to become a festival volunteer or vendor, call (912) 865-7154 or visit www.willowhillheritage.org.