CHLOE MICHAEL, STUDENT REPORTER:
One of the oldest schools in Yuma, Carver Elementary, holds a complicated past. Originally meant to be a segregated school that served black families for generations is now a reminder that our community was once divided. We spoke with Beverly Cade, the president of Yuma's NAACP branch, about the history of Carver and why it still matters today.
BEVERLY CADE:
It's just a reminder of all the challenges and the resilience of the Black community in Yuma, you know? And our our, our branch works, you know, to honor that legacy while, you know, strengthening the youth and just building a stronger Yuma. And so with us knowing what, what did happen and how bad it makes you feel, you never want that to happen again. You never want stuff like that to happen again. So what you do is you teach the kids about things that did happen and things that you never want to see happen again.
MICHAEL:
That was Beverly Cade, president of Yuma's NAACP branch, where she shares why teaching black history in our community is important.
CADE:
You need to teach kids that we are all equal, and so in turn, when they get to be teenagers and they run into people who don't look like them, 'That person is equal to me, you know, and I need to treat this person the same way I would treat anyone else.'
MICHAEL:
Cade's family has been in Yuma since the 1920s before the school was built. Even though she didn't attend Carver, many of her relatives did.
CADE:
My mother started attending Carver when she was in the 3rd grade, and what she tells me is that it was segregated. I didn't realize that, but it was segregated to the point that there was no other nationalities but Black kids. So only the Black kids attended Carver School in 1948.
MICHAEL:
Originally, Carver was built in September of 1947 yet the building had been replaced in 1956, which can explain the confusion when talking about the age of the school versus the building.
CADE:
If you try to find the history on Carver School, they're not even going to know what year it was built, and so what it says is Carver School has been serving Yuma for over 70 years. Well, I know for a fact that it's been serving Yuma for over 80 years because my mother went there in 1948 and my dad's younger sisters were there prior to 1948 because they're older than my mom, and they both attended Carver School.
MICHAEL:
After they left Carver Elementary, there were no more schools just for Black students.
CADE:
When my mother was probably, I'm thinking 12 or 13 ready to go to Fourth Avenue, she went to school in the basement.
MICHAEL:
Even though students were segregated, Cade shared that her relatives still had a nice experience.
CADE:
Well, she had good experiences because it was, it was segregated, and so all the Black kids, you know, went to school together. So, you know, she always talks about how much fun they had. And I asked her, you know, you know, what kind of sports did you guys do? What did you play? And she said, 'We played like everybody else.' You know, they had a basketball team. They had a swimming team because Carver Pool was across the street from Carver School. And she said they played basketball, volleyball at recess just like everyone else did. She said she they had, she had a good time. She had good memories. She's always talking about her girlfriends there, you know?
MICHAEL:
Preserving the history of Carver Elementary goes beyond learning about the building. It's a part of Black history in our community. It's to make sure that the experiences of families during segregation are shared and remembered.
CADE:
In Phoenix, the bigger cities they're taught, you know, in elementary school, Black history. In Yuma, I wasn't taught Black history no more than MLK day or or, you know, something like that. As far as learning about, um, other people, we weren't taught and we were not taught in elementary school. I didn't know about any black folks at all. I mean, I didn't learn it till I got to be an adult. I didn't even know what Juneteenth was until I was almost thirty years old.
MICHAEL:
Today, as president of Yuma's NAACP branch, Cade contributes a way to preserve Black history in Yuma by educating the community.
CADE:
We collaborate a lot with Carver School because Carver School is one of the, well, it's on the north end of town and so they don't have the same amenities, I don't think, as as other schools, because I've been to Carver School, I've been to every school in Yuma School District One. I know the school. So, you know, they can't pull anything over on me. But we try to do like, you know, Black History Month. We have, you know, we had activities for the the kids at the library. We had the, the showing of the movie one week of the Ruby Bridges.
MICHAEL:
Through generational stories passed down, Yumas' NAACP branch continues to preserve Black history in our community. From the student newsroom, I'm Chloe Michael.
