Title	Mt. Zion School: close up of sign
Creator(s)	West, Carroll Van, photographer
Date	2014
Coverage	2010-2019
Property name	Mt. Zion School
Additional property name	Mt. Zion CME Church; Mt. Zion Worship Center
Property type	School
Community Name	Bradford, Gibson County, TN
Description	Color photograph of the Mt. Zion School sign with the school in the background. The wrought-iron sign reads, "The Old Mt. Zion Negro School, Built 1870 by Freed Slaves, Last Class 1962."
Historical Notes	In 1855, David P. Hamilton deeded one acre of land to A.P Foster, T.S Freeman and G. B Rust for the sum of five dollars. The deed dictated that the land was for the establishment of “Mount Zion meeting house.” Tradition states that a rural school called Mt. Zion School was built in 1870 by “freed slaves.” In 1915, Mt. Zion had one teacher and hosted Grades 1-6. Mt. Zion was one of seventy-two separate schools in the county at that time. This leaves a possible construction date ranging between 1870 (as the community suggests) and 1915 (when the school is known to exist). Though the school is listed in 1915 as hosting Grades 1-6, children beyond the age of elementary school children attended Mt. Zion. Photographic evidence from 1925 suggests that possible ages could range from four or five to teenagers. The last class to leave Mt. Zion was the class of 1962. Its legacy lives on in the stories of Gibson County community members and has a rich history still yet untapped.
Collection Name	Southern History Documentary Projects
Subject-LCSH	School buildings Signs and signboards
Subject-AAT	Schools Signs
Subject-TGM	Schools
Type	Still image
Genre	Photograph
Medium	Computer disk
Processing notes	Digital files retrieved from a flashdrive ; Latitude and Longitude coordinates determined through Google maps.
Contributing Institution	Center for Historic Preservation, Middle Tennessee State University
Copyright status	Copyright of the creator. Reproduced with permission
Conditions for use	Credit Center for Historic Preservation, Middle Tennessee State University Reproduction permitted for non-profit educational and research purposes only
Digital Publisher	Digital Initiatives, James E. Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University

Mt. Zion School: close up of sign

Description