February is Black History Month and in addition to the traditional classroom lessons that students received, the students at Clark Middle School had a living history lesson too. Two of the oldest African American families in Frisco, the Turners and the Jones , talked to students Thursday morning about the Hamilton School and the way that some things were in Frisco prior to segregation.

The Hamilton was school constructed in 1925 to teach black students through eighth grade.

Jimmie Allen Jones graduated from the Hamilton School and received a diploma for completing the eighth grade. He was not allowed to continue his high school education in Frisco though because it had not been integrated yet. He graduated from Frederick Douglass High School in Plano.

“There was a white school in Frisco, but we were not allowed to go there,” he said. “We were transferred to Plano.”

Sam Turner recalled his times at the Hamilton School too.

“The Hamilton School was a little country school,” Turner said. “There were four classes in a room.”

The school house was comprosed of two rooms and the teacher, Portia Taylor, who was also the principal. Taylor taught at the Hamilton school from 1930 until 1964 at which time  schools became integrated.

Milton Turner had fond memories of his long time teacher.

“She was a kind teacher and she wanted to make sure that you knew what she was teaching you,” Milton Turner said. “She use to say Ds and Fs don’t mean you are doing fine, it means you are failing.”

He recalled another time that she wouldn’t let him go to lunch, because she did not think that he understood the lesson so she taught it to him again during lunch.  Then there was the time that he skipped school because he didn’t want to take a test and Taylor showed up at his house with the test and a belt.

Both the Turners and the Jones can remember times when they were not allowed in certain places, such as restaurants, because the color of their skin. The Turners both remember being integrated into white schools. Milton Turner said when they returned to school that fall they were just put in a white school.

“We did not know anything about the white race,” he said. “We did not know how to except them and they did not know how to except us.”

The Tuners and Jones finished talking about their experiences and allowed the students to ask questions.

The Jones’ three daughters, Brenda, Cynthia and Charlotte, were in attendance too. The three girls are now grown and mothers themselves. They attended Frisco schools after integration and were coached by Rick Reedy who is now the Superintendent of Frisco ISD.

“Your generation is the most colorblind generation I have ever seen,” Clark Principal Joel Partin said. “We have nations from all over the world in this school and that is awesome.”