A Forgotten Black History Of Monticello – JCTS
By JAMES CAMPBELL
In 1930 the recently built Cargile Institute, a Julius Rosenwald funded school, had its name changed to Jasper County Training School (JCTS).
In a very short period, JCTS became one of the most outstanding high schools and elementary combined academic institutions as well as a basketball and track schools in Middle Georgia. Monticello became famously known throughout the Eastern and Middle Georgia regions for its almost unbeatable basketball team. Track and field was also ranked at the top of its class for its 100-dash sprinters and high-jumpers.
JCTS was also ranked among the best African American schools that graduated some of the top academically rated students in Georgia. This was true simply because JCTS hired some of the best and most qualified black teachers in Georgia.
From 1930 to 1970 JCTS stood out as a proud African American Institution that was believed at the time would live forever. But in 1970, the year integration of all southern schools changed a dream of a proud Black Heritage that was believed would stand the test of time. But that dream and heritage quickly faded when into a cloud of dust when JCTS became Washington Park Elementary School.
JCTS was no longer considered by the history books or historians as a worthwhile African American Educational Institution to be remembered. Today, JCTS lives only in the minds of who still remember what we had, talked about by the many old people today who attended one of the best educational systems in Georgia.
From 1950 to 1965, JCTS basketball teams were feared by every school east of Atlanta. Regional playing systems were put in place because of the JCTS basketball teams. No other school within 50 miles of Monticello was willing to play the JCTS teams. They were considered the “Monsters of Middle Georgia.”
Lester Davis Jr. became the most famous coach of those teams, although Mr. Andrew Thompson and Professor I.S. Glover in the early 1950s were responsible for putting many such teams on a dirt court on Mason Street.
Jasper County Training School got its name primarily because of the vocational facilities that were on campus for adults as well as for students.
There were classes in place for automobile repairs, food canning, home-making as well as farming. These classes were in place because some intelligent instructors realized well that all students could not, would not, or could not afford a college education. Nor did some prefer to further their education beyond high school, or join the military. But they would still have the knowledge and skills to become productive citizens in society, and to support their families.
Today, JCTS is a distant memory, or totally forgotten except to those who attended the magnificent school. And it is an institution that is totally unheard of by many who never knew that such an educational institution ever existed. There are no recorded documents or trophies as evidence to show that such a generation of African Americans ever existed in Monticello.
However, once upon a time JCTS was a major force in the academic world in Middle Georgia. It is nevertheless today a distant memory for those who were fortunate enough have been students, teachers, and parents of students who once attended the one of greatest academic achievement in Monticello’s Black History.
