(Letter to the Editor - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

I have driven down Avery Street many times, but yesterday I took a really good look at Sumner School, or what’s left of it. Just about every window was busted, and who knows what damage there is on the inside?

Sumner was the first African American school south of the Mason Dixon. I am not an alumnus of the school, as I was born and raised in Marietta, Ohio. I am, however, concerned about keeping alive the history of African Americans. I realize that almost all of the alumni and faculty of the school are in their next life, but where are their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren? Some folks in this community need to step up and save this piece of history!

Two years or so ago there was a movement to tackle the future of the historic school, a feasibility study. Evidently, it got no traction. I would ask the African American churches, Zion Baptist, Logan Memorial UM, Bethel AME and Whitman Chapel AME to step up to the plate, as many of their relatives are alumni, and bring in others to keep this precious history alive for generations to come. What about you contractors out there, and companies who replace windows? Can you not donate your time?

Some of the things that give us the most satisfaction are things that we do from the heart, not what we get money for.

The city of Parkersburg needs to step up also and do its part in preserving this special history.

Do not let the dreams of the original men who formed the colored school board in December of 1863, the Sumner Seven as they were called, and the dreams of a woman named Rae Browne, who devoted many years working to preserve the Sumner history, die. We need to preserve this valuable piece of history.

Jerrie Green

Parkersburg