NAACP Wins Heritage Recognition for Local African Americans

On April 5, 2006, the St. Mary's County Board of Education in collaboration with the local Branch of the NAACP held a dedication ceremony in order to recognize significant contributions made by African Americans to the public schools.

The event began with naming the media center at the new George Washington Carver Elementary School: The Ruth Portee Media Center. A St. Mary's County Human Relations Commission 2003 Community Award recipient and a life-long member of the NAACP, Ms. Portee taught at Carver Elementary School during the era of segregation.

Ms. Portee earned a Bachelor of Science in elementary education from Bowie State in 1949. Her career as a teacher began in the Calvert County School system where she taught for six years. She began as a one-room schoolteacher at the segregated Chaneyville Elementary School.

Ms. Portee continued to pursue a job in St. Mary's County School system and was hired in 1959 to teach at Banneker Elementary School. Her tenure with the local public schools was divided between Banneker Elementary School, Carver Elementary School, Park Hall Elementary School, and Greenview Knolls Elementary School. While teaching, Ms. Portee earned a masters equivalency from George Washington University. She retired in 1981 after 32 years of teaching, but she loved teaching and the children so much that she continued her work in the local schools as a substitute teacher and a volunteer. By naming the media center after her, Ms. Portee will be honored for her overall commitment and perseverance in fostering education and community development in St. Mary's County.

During the second half of the ceremony, the gymnasium at Benjamin Banneker Elementary School was dedicated to the members of the United Parent Trustee Association (UPTA) and named in their honor. A plaque has been placed to individually recognize the members.

In 1919, Banneker School began in an old farmhouse in Loveville as a result of local parents pooling their resources in order to purchase the 72-acre farmstead for $2,500. While the UPTA was able to pay for school operational expenses, transportation costs were always insufficient. Students who lived nearby walked to the school while friends and neighbors of the school boarded students who lived farther away.

The UPTA appeal to the St. Mary's County Board of Education in 1925 for the county to take over the financial burden for buses was refused. Finally, in 1929, the Board of Education agreed to take over the school, which supported services for grades one through seven. For the sum of one dollar, the UPTA conveyed title to the 72-acre farmstead, known as Bucks Park, to the Board of Education on April 8, 1930.

In 1932 at the UPTA's request, two rooms were added to the school (farmhouse) in order to provide enough space for grades eight through eleven. The high school grades did not materialize until 1934-again at the behest of the UPTA. The first class (four students) graduated from Benjamin Banneker High School in the spring of 1937.

UPTA members charted the course through their unflagging energy and their hard-earned financial contributions in the establishment of Benjamin Banneker High School, the first public high school for African Americans during the era of segregation. Work continues in naming other areas in these formerly "black" schools after staff, students, and community members who have made outstanding contributions to the development of county schools.