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| People of Brunswick County Compiled by Natasha Miles Brunswick County, North Carolina  |
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State Port Pilot 30 October 1935 Uncle Frank Gordon Taught School For Fifty-Five Years Venerable Old [Black Man] Taught For Fifty Years With out Interruption; Has Served Many Different Schools Is Now Past His 79th Birthday First [Black] Man To Teach In Brunswick County; Is Now The Oldest Man Of His Race Living In Southport After battling against overwhelming odds to secure an education for himself, Uncle Frank Gordon, venerable Southport [black man], has devoted more than a half-century teaching in the [black] schools of Brunswick county. Now past his 79th birthday, Uncle Frank was active as teacher until the end of the school term in 1934. His period of service extended through fifty-five years, and fifty of them were in unbroken succession. Times were hard when Uncle Frank attended school. His mother was not able to provide lunch for her children, so he usually spent the noon hour looking for scrap iron, rags and other junk to sell to a local scrap dealer. If pickings were good, Uncle Frank used the money he received to buy cheese and cakes which he shared with his brothers and sisters. If he had a bad day, the Gordon children ate mulberries for lunch. The [black] school term extended for only two or three months in those days and the teachers usually were white ladies of the community. Because he had been diligent in his school work whenever he had a chance, Uncle Frank was drafted when he was 20 years old for teaching service in the county. However, he was not content to allow his education to stop simultaneously with his formal schooling, and throughout the years he read and studied, preparing himself to be a better teacher for the [black] children of Brunswick county. One impressive example of his quest for knowledge occurred when an educated [black] man from the north came to Southport. Fractions had always been difficult for him to solve, according to Uncle Frank, so he paid the northern visitor five cents for every two examples until he had mastered this field of simple arithmetic. Uncle Frank was born on March 4, 1856, and was 9 years old when the Civil War came to a close. As a slave he was owned by John C Swain, who had a of farm near Southport. Uncle it Frank says that he remembers when there was fighting at Fort Fisher. His unusual memory makes him a good authority on other historical events which occurred in Southport during the past three-quarters of a century. The old man spoke of the great improvement that has taken place in [black] education since he first started to school. If he had had a chance to go to schools like that have today he said, "I could have been the kind of man I wanted to be." Then a happy look appeared on his face as he added, "I reckon that I have taught more [black] children in this county to read and write than any other person." Note: North Carolina newspapers at this time were very racist. I have chosen to change their racist terms for this page. Instead of their words, I have used the words "black", "man" or "person". I have indicated that I have changed from the original wording with brackets such as this: [black]. |
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