Historic African American school successfully moved to Franklin

FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WKRN) — In the early hours of Friday, Georgia Harris was up waiting and reminiscing about a school that shaped her childhood.

“We didn’t have running water,” she said. “We had [an] outside toilet. I mean, we had no playground, but we were a happy group of kids.”

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The Lee Buckner School in the Duplex/Spring Hill community was the place Harris and many other African American children attended school back in the mid-1900s. “The teachers were great,” she said. “They taught us a lot.”

The Lee Buckner School was one of a hundred Rosenwald schools built in Tennessee between 1917 and 1932.

Rosenwald schools were public schools built for African American students to attend thanks to a partnership between educator Booker T. Washington and the former president of Sears, Roebuck and Company, Julius Rosenwald.

“I’ll tell you, I didn’t know what a Rosenwald school was before I started this,” said Bari Beasley.

Beasley is the CEO of the Heritage Foundation of Williamson County.

Rosenwald schools broke down barriers, providing education for rural Black students in Tennessee

After learning about the school, and finding out the property it sat on was going to be redeveloped, their organization purchased it back in 2018.

“There are pieces of our history that are difficult, but I think in learning all of our history, we can look at that and we can learn how to be better ourselves and how to make a better world,” said Beasley.

So after years of meetings and opposition, Lee Buckner finally was on its way to its new home on Friday, Feb. 2.

“I never thought I’d see it here in Franklin, and it’s here,” said Harris.

Harris, along with other classmates, watched as their school was placed outside the Heritage Foundation’s Franklin Grove Estate and Gardens in downtown Franklin.

“The school is here, and I thought it would not happen,” she said. “I just didn’t think it was going to happen.”

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Though it’s been a long journey, Harris is excited for the next generation to learn about Lee Buckner and its rich legacy.

“We just want people to come and see how we went to school, and how happy we were with our school and to…learn history,” she said.

The Heritage Foundation will now begin restoring the school and plans to have a portion of it transformed into an exhibit space. Officials are hoping to have the school restored and ready for visitors by the end of 2025 or early 2026.

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