Mobile County Training School
The MCTS has a distinctive history— it was founded by the descendants of the Clotilda in 1880 as the first school for Black people in the County of Mobile.
In 1880 it was called “The Plateau Normal and Industrial Institute for the Education the Head, Heart and Hands of the Colored Youth” and held its classes at the Old Landmark Church (now called Union Baptist Church). Eighteen years later, it relocated to a one-room building donated by the community, and then some years after that moved again to Booman’s Union Hall.
In 1910, the school appointed its first principal, Mr. Isaiah J. Whitley and took on the name “Mobile County Training School.” It was, like all institutions at the turn of the century, segregated. That term “training” was used deliberately by Alabama’s officials to distinguish between Black and white schools in the state.
In 1915 a fire broke out and destroyed the school building. Yorktown Baptist Church provided the space for students to keep attending classes. Ultimately, Principal Whitley secured the school’s new home: both an industrial science building and domestic science one.
The MCTS served as a thriving part of the Africatown community for decades. For the decades from 1911 to 1950, the school taught students from 1st grade on through high school. In parallel to Africatown’s self-governance, MCTS was also student-led. The school’s students were empowered to oversee student discipline. Any particular student’s standing with the school would be relayed to other community-led institutions, such as the churches. It gained state accreditation from the Alabama government in 1926 and welcomed a new principal that year, Dr. Benjamin Baker. Eight years later, MCTS became the only Black school in the county to gain accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.
In 1950, the school grades were split between two schools. Whitley opened across the street that year to serve Grades 1-6; MCTS became the junior high/high school with Grades 7-12.
But the high acheivements of the school were greatly impacted by the federal desegregation of public schools in the period after the monumental Brown v. Board decision of the US Supreme Court (1954). Inadvertently or not, the racial integration taking place in the 1960s chipped away at the sustainability of MCTS. Renovations and additions were made in 1967 and the 6th grade was accommodated. But just a few years later, for the 1970-71 school term, administrators completely reorganized the county's grade structure and transformed MCTS from a high school to only Grades 6-8. The dramatic change dispersed those were the current students attending; many of exemplary high school teachers were no longer needed. Increasingly, the community-centered curricula that was a hallmark of Africatown, was chipped away. Even the US Supreme Court would end up involved in Mobile County’s rocky desegregation: a unanimous 9-0 decision in Davis v. Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County (1971) ruled their plan had failed to utilize all possible remedies.
Equally as damaging: the school’s population decreased just as the population of Africatown did. At the height of its prosperity, our town was home to some 12,000 people— today, over 80% of those people are gone.
Despite these hurdles, we have rebuilt MCTS as a pillar institution of Africatown. Our Alumni Association continues to educate young people on the irreplaceable history of this special place. Today, we welcome you.
