Bon Air School (Black)
The Bon Air Black School (c1888) was first located near the No. 4 mine somewhere below the bluff line on the western side of Bon Air Mountain in the “Old Town”. It remained in this area, known as “Black Bottoms” for a number of years. Later it was moved near the Bon Air Depot, facing the Blue Springs Cove. The company eventually moved this school to Bon Air’s Black community on the tableland. The Black neighborhood was called the “quarters”. It was located approximately ½ mile south of Highway 70 East and a short distance to the right of the cemetery on Corolla Road in the 14th Civil District. There is a Black cemetery near where the school was located.
The school was moved to different locations and probably always on property owned by the Bon Air Coal and Iron Company or the Tennessee Products Corporation.
(Copied from the White County Board of Education Minutes 1920-1950)
- August 18, 1925: “School was allowed to continue for the coming year.”
- September 8 1927: “Negro children were transported from Bon Air to Ravenscroft with the county paying for the Transportation ($10.00)
- October 29, 1927: “School for Negro children closed by White County Board of Education.”
- July 23, 1928: “Arthur Hayworth was elected teacher.”
- November 10, 1928: “Board voted to pay rent of $7.00 per month for school building for Negro School at Bon Air for two years providing the building was used.”
Records indicate J.A. Hayworth taught in 1928 – 1930 and 1936. Mary Hayworth also taught there.