Mount Moriah School at N. Druid Hills Road
My goal is to write a new local history blog post every week for Past Tense GA, but every now and then life makes that challenging and last week I did not post an article. It’s time to move on to my next topic-Mount Moriah School. This post contains everything I was able to find about the school. If you have history to share about this school, please write to me at pasttensega@gmail.com.
Mount Moriah School was located off N. Druid Hills Road in DeKalb County, along Mt. Moriah Road. It was one of the schools established in the first half of the 20th century for Black children to attend school in a time of segregation. DeKalb County schools were integrated in 1968, several years after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.
This photo of Mt. Moriah School is from the book “African American Education in DeKalb County” by Narvie J. Harris M.Ed. and Dee M. Taylor Ed.D.
Narvie Harris recalls in the book “African American Education in DeKalb County,” that Mt. Moriah was a one-teacher school with running water. Most schools for Black children had no running water. (“African American Education in DeKalb County,” Narvie J. Harris M.Ed. and Dee M. Taylor Ed.D.)
Before there was a Mount Moriah School, there was a Mt. Moriah Baptist Church at this location. The church began with services held in church members’ homes. Then, in 1881 members of the congregation worked together to construct a church building. The first minister was Pastor Mason Harrison. The church burned three times but was rebuilt each time. Mount Moriah Baptist remained at this location until 1996 when it relocated to Brockett Road in Tucker in 1996. (DeKalb History Center archives, Mt. Moriah Baptist Church)
Harris recalled, “This was the only school (out of 17 schools for Blacks) at the time that was actually built to be a school.” According to Harris, Jeanes Supervisor for DeKalb County from 1944 to 1969, Mount Moriah was used as a demonstration school by Atlanta University. Read more about Narvie Harris and Jeanes supervisors here. (“African American Education in DeKalb County, from the collection of Narvie J. Harris,” by Harris and Taylor)
Joe Greear, who grew up along N. Druid Hills Road, to the west of where I-85 is today, writes about his memories of the Mount Moriah community. “Then just beyond Mrs. Smith’s (Tullie Smith) house, across Briarcliff Road, was a tiny community of homes clustered around a church. They were simple wood structures and were known as the community of Mount Moriah, which was the name of the church. Eventually the neighborhood was replaced by a large discount retail store called Richway, which was later to become a Target store.” (“Growing up on the Edges,” by Joe Greear, DeKalb History Center archives)
Dr. Frankie Golden, Jeanes Supervisor from 1941 to 1943, held a study group meeting at Mount Moriah in 1941. The topic was “A comparison of the old and newer methods of teaching reading in the elementary school.” (Atlanta Daily World, “DeKalb Study Group Meets at Mt. Moriah,” Nov. 9, 1941)
A 1942 meeting led by Dr. Golden and held at Mount Moriah asked students to collect scrap metal as children and adults across the U.S. were encouraged during World War II. (Atlanta Daily World, Oct. 12, 1942, “Encourage DeKalb Schools to Gather Scrap”)
When school buses became available for Black students in DeKalb in 1948, a consolidation of schools took place. Doraville, Mt. Zion (Chamblee) and Mount Moriah schools were consolidated into Lynwood Park. Miller Grove, Redan, Piney Grove, and Flat Rock Schools consolidated into Bruce Street School in Lithonia. Hopewell and Bethlehem consolidated with County Line School. Tucker students moved to Victoria Simmons School and Clarkston students moved to Robert Shaw School in Scottdale.
A roster from this time shows Mount Moriah school with one teacher and a principal.
The Mount Moriah Church cemetery is located on property which once adjoined the church. A listing of those buried at the cemetery can be found at findagrave.com. The Mason Baptist Cemetery and IOB Lodge Cemetery are also at this location.