I didn't realize how much Lincoln School meant to the community.

I know that it meant something to our family and the African-American history and culture of West Plains.

But because of the fingerprints that are on this building, with the various programs throughout the years, it means something to the community.

[fiddle playing] Historically, educational institutions have often been the cornerstone of African-American communities.

Down the road in West Plains, the Lincoln School opened in 1926 and played a crucial role in nurturing the young minds of Black children in the area, offering hope and support amid the ongoing challenges of poverty and racial tension.

Following the Brown v Board of Education ruling in 1954, students of the Lincoln School were integrated into the broader school system.

The building continued to serve the community in various capacities, but began to deteriorate as time went on.

Today, the legacy of the Lincoln School has been preserved and revitalized through the efforts of Crockett and Tonya Oaks, who purchased the historic building in 2023 and transformed it into a vibrant community space while honoring its storied past.

Join us as we talk about their mission to preserve and celebrate this vital piece of African-American Heritage.

[fiddle playing] NARRATOR: Ozarks Public Television and Missouri State University are proud to present OzarksWatch Video Magazine, a locally produced program committed to increasing the understanding of the richness and complexity of Ozarks culture.

Visit our website for more information.

Hi, I'm Dale Moore.

Welcome to this edition of OzarksWatch Video Magazine.

And we are on the road today in West Plains, Missouri.

You know, there's old saying.

You've heard it.

You've probably said it once upon a time.

If these walls could talk.

Well, I got news for you.

Where we are today here in West Plains, Missouri, these walls are talking, and they've been talking and telling stories since 1926.

We're at the Lincoln School, and I am delighted to have as my guests today Crockett Oaks and Tonya Oaks.

Good to have you on the program.

Thank you.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for having us.

It is a delight to have you here.

Crockett Oaks, the third, my grandfather would say that is a sturdy name.

Tell me about the background of Crockett Oaks, III.

Sure.

It's a good family name.

I'm the third installation of the Crockett Oaks series.

[chuckling] My great-grandmother told me that my grandfather was named after a gentleman that lived down the street from their sharecropper's farm in Arkansas with the last name of Crockett.

So, he had helped the family.

She didn't describe how he helped the family, but my name derives from his surname.

Hence Crockett Oaks-- Crockett Walter Oaks is born.

It is a sturdy name.

Thank you.

And I love that.

I really do.

Thank you.

So, we're at the Lincoln School in West Plains.

And the interesting thing about this, I think, is the backstory of it and the original story of it.

This school was opened in 1923 as a segregated school.

Yes.

In Howell County, Missouri.

Yes.

In 1926, this iteration of Lincoln School, was built from a tax levy that was voted on and won by a big majority here in West Plains.

What was the African-American population like in 1923, 1926, in that era?

So, according to the census records, the African-American population back then was probably right at less than 2%.

Given the size of the town, that was a pretty good number.

You had probably, maybe 75 to 100 families here in West Plains.

Yeah.

At the turn of the century, the population was much greater, because of work: agriculture, railroads.

At the turn of the century, the African-American population was quite robust.

I was really taken by your website, which is a great description of what's going on here with the project.

We've got a lot to talk about here.

But one of the things that really struck me was that you say very early on in the website that the Lincoln School was the center of gravity for the African-American community.

What did you mean by that?

It definitely was.

This area that we're currently in, affectionately known as The Hill, it enjoyed a much more unsavory title back then.

But we refer it to it now as just "The Hill."

It was the red-lined African-American district for West Plains during that segregation period.

So, my grandparents lived literally a hundred yards to the right, on Washington.

My great-grandmother lived right across the street from Lincoln School.

And then, all around this area was African-American families.

So, the Lincoln School was a safe place.

It was a haven.

CROCKETT OAKS, III: It definitely was.

It had it had a community for a community, essentially, is what that was.

Indeed it did.

Yeah.

I think that's probably pretty reminiscent of most one-room schools, white or Black in that era, was that that's where you would go for pie suppers and for everything.

Yeah.

It seemed to center around that.

What also struck me as I got to thinking about this, Crockett, was that when this school was built, it was only 61 years after the end of the Civil War.

Mm-hmm.

And so, the children who would have gone to this school were very likely sons and daughters of slaves or former slaves or certainly grandchildren.

Descendants of slaves, most definitely.

Correct.

As a matter of fact, my great-grandmother tells a story about how her parents were formerly enslaved people in Arkansas.

And so, I'm sure that story is replicated throughout the African-American community here at that time.

Absolutely.

It's interesting, too, because when you go back and look at the Civil War times here, I mean, Missouri-- You don't hear much about Missouri.

I mean, you hear about the Battle of Wilson's Creek.

And everybody talks about the other great battles that went on.

But this area was such a hotbed.

That's why it was on the Mason-Dixon line.

It was such a divided area, I can't imagine living during that time and if these walls could talk, what kinds of stories they would tell.

Most definitely.

Yeah.

What inspired you to start the salvation or the saving of the Lincoln School?

Do you want to start?

Yeah.

So, I think that upon us discussing and returning to West Plains, we started initially with Sadie Brown Cemetery.

And then, it was a natural progression to Lincoln School and to try to restore it.

We understood for a long period of time, after being married for more than 30 years, coming back and forth, that this old building was just starting to dilapidate.

And it needed a face-lift to bring life back to this area.

Hence-- Wow.

--the start of the restoration and the programming process.

Yeah.

As Tonya said, it seemed like a natural progression.

We restored Sadie Brown Cemetery, which is the historic African-American cemetery out at 14 and 63.

And the people that are interred there went to school here.

So, this was an active school from, what, '26 to '54, Brown v Board of Education.

Board of Education.

Correct.

And then in '54, Board of Education said, OK, great, now everybody's going to go, and we're going to send students to-- Yeah.

Yeah.

Wow.

And then, what happened to the Lincoln School at that point?

Well, it's quite amazing.

West Plains were early adopters to integration and the Supreme Court's decision.

Literally, 2 and 1/2 months later, they adopted the Supreme Court's decision.

So, in July of '54, shortly thereafter, the doors of Lincoln School closed for its school activities.

I wonder what that was like.

I wonder if you go back and look at the news clippings of the time, what kind of a closing ceremony it was.

Was it just, OK, we're done or?

Well, my dad describes it very unceremoniously.

The adults of The Hill were very afraid of integration, just didn't know what they didn't know.

The kids were less concerned, because kids will be kids.

If you have a ball, kids will play.

Most kids are colorblind.

Indeed, indeed.

So, he describes it as, from the adults perspective, very chaotic.

But the kids were integrated well.

He went to Foster School, just, literally, less than a mile from here.

Yeah, because it was a fairly rapid transition process, from what I can determine.

It was, like, OK, so now the law of the land, let's go.

And off you go.

So, that's kind of an interesting perspective.

CROCKETT OAKS III: Sure.

What else, when the school closed, what-- I mean, obviously, it stayed.

What else has the Lincoln School been?

Sure.

Yeah.

So, shortly after it closed, it was the home of the VFW here in West Plains for years.

Veterans would come here and do what they do at VFW centers.

And so, there it was, taking care of people as veterans.

And then, shortly after that, the city had a summer program here, the 4-H program.

And so, kids came back here to learn how to cook and sew and do all types of community-oriented things.

And that went on for years.

And then, finally, it was the home of the local Alcoholics Anonymous chapter.

And so, when we found Lincoln School, they were occupying this space for their meetings.

When did you officially start the renovation project?

We closed with the city and purchased the school July the 28th, 2023.

Wow.

So, it hasn't even been a year.

Wow.

It hasn't even been a year.

2023.

And then we started renovation-- TONYA OAKS: Maybe two weeks?

Four or five days-- four or five days later, like August the 4th.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

That was the first iteration of-- What shape was the school in when you actually closed on it?

What condition was it in?

Yeah, it was pretty bad.

[laughter] It was pretty bad.

I mean, you'll see from some of the videos on our website-- TONYA OAKS: It was dark.

CROCKETT OAKS, III: It was scary, it was dingy.

[laughter] But unbeknownst to us, it wasn't until we started peeling back the skin, the outer surfaces of Lincoln School, that we realized the bones were good.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

TONYA OAKS: Solid building, foundation's solid.

CROCKETT OAKS, III: We were highly encouraged by engineer, construction folks not to mess with the bones, because they were solid.

And so, we were really inspired by that.

Yeah.

Now, I assume there are some living school kids that went here.

Yeah.

There's only four remaining.

Wow.

My father's one of them, so we get firsthand recollection of what happened in this classroom-- TONYA OAKS: Of stories.

--from his perspective.

And then, there's three others that are living outside of Howell County.

What's your dad's memories of this?

What does he told you about this?

You know, he has very fond reflections of Lincoln School.

He talks about how he enjoyed the snacks, the cold milk and cookies that they got while attending Lincoln School.

He talks about his two sisters being in the same classroom with him and helping him after hours with his homework and having problems with them about him having problems with his homework.

DALE MOORE: Yeah, [laughter] But he describes a very festive, joyful existence here at historic Lincoln School.

It's remarkable when you walk in here-- And of course, again, I went to a one-room school, so I was, as I said, a little emotional about it,