Oral History, Mrs. Mildred Ridgley Gray (file missing)

The oral history of Mrs. Mildred Ridgley Gray was conducted by Anna Bruton, Jennie Chaplin, and Julie Chen on Sunday, December 13th, 2009. Before transferring to Lakeland Junior/Senior High School for six months, Mrs. Mildred Ridgley Gray taught at Fairmont Heights Elementary School. She transferred to Lakeland Junior/High School, where she taught the seventh grade, because there was an urgent need for a teacher knowledgeable about CORE courses. The CORE courses included Geography and Civics, and she indicated that these courses were demanded by the state; Mr. Edgar Smith was the principal at this time. She recalled the school as being a two row school house. Mrs. Gray indicated that the first Colored Supervisor of Elementary Schools was Mrs. Wiggington Brown, who was a staunch advocate for better school conditions. Under Mrs. Brown’s stellar leadership, a critical document - ”Survey of Colored Schools” was published by The Colored Public Schools Trust and discussed the Lakeland schools and their unfair conditions. She spoke fondly of Robert R. Gray, a resident of Lakeland and principal of Fairmont Heights Elementary School, who was also the founder of the credit union for teachers. This founding of the credit union was significant because no one before Robert Gray had founded a credit union. While teaching at Lakeland, she attended Embry AME Church and remembers the congregation as having very close community ties; also, these people united in achieving common goals of education and religious/spiritual guidance for their families. She found the Lakeland community very progressive for its time, and each individual worked diligently performing mostly government jobs. When asked about how Lakelanders used their yard spaces, Mrs. Gray said there was much open space so that children could dance, play music, play baseball, play with dogs and cats; she also noticed the existence of a community garden. Additionally, the children played music in the yards, sang to the current music and danced to the current dances. When asked about her desire to educate children; she discussed her family and noted the following: her grandfather was an ex-slave who came to the area around the time of the Civil War; her parents believed in education; mother sought education and donated her land to build Ridegley School, which will be placed on the National Register.