First Flint River Baptist Normal Institute / Union Normal School
First Flint River Baptist Normal Institute
In 1876, the First Flint River Missionary Baptist Association was formed to help “lift the veil of ignorance from its people” using land purchased in 1896 and 1915. The Association established First Flint River Baptist Normal Institute in 1918 with the Reverend H.F. Taylor as its head. The work of the school was entrusted to the care of Reverend James Graves, Mrs. L. Jackson and Mrs. Josie King Williams. This facility gave black children an opportunity for an education beyond the elementary schooling provided by Decatur County. Children from the county lived with Bainbridge area families until a dormitory could be built.
Union Normal School
In 1927, Professor H.S. Dixon, Mrs. Marie H. Dixon and Mrs. Aurie Bell Flowers assumed duties at what was now Union Normal High School. After school closure on 31 May 1952, the Decatur County Board of Education bought the property on 13 November 1954 for $8,000. Mr. Dixon was paid with a 100 x 300 ft. lot on the east. In January 1955, the proceeds were divided equally among Association member churches and a Scholarship Aid Program was established a few months later. With forty years of success, it was reorganized and chartered as First Flint River Missionary Baptist Association Scholarship Foundation, Inc. in 1990.
Marker is at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and South Boulevard Drive, on the right when traveling west on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
Courtesy hmdb.org
