Historic school in Joppa neighborhood to become new community center

For years Shalondria Galimore has wanted a place to bring their neighborhood from Joppa together.

The historic Freedmen town near the Trinity River, isolated from the rest of East Oak Cliff by railroad tracks and I-45, was long left behind by the rest of Dallas.

Through systemic racism and years of neglect, Joppa – pronounced jop-ee – never received the same urban resources as other neighborhoods.

Galimore, president of the South Central Civic League, knew her community needed a central, public meeting place. She envisioned a multipurpose center that could have anything from cooking classes to afternoon care, but the space was never available.

Then, three months ago, she entered the long-abandoned and dilapidated Melissa Pierce School on the corner of Fellows Lane and Hull Avenue. Her parents had attended school a long time ago, and Galimore had spent months trying to find a new use for the building with the help of the property’s owner, Habitat for Humanity.

“What we needed was here all along,” Galimore said of the school. “We never had it before. It is important that we have it. It’s everything the community ever wanted and needed. “

Shalondria Galimore, president of the South Central Civic League, says she knows her community needs a central, public meeting place.(Smiley N. Pool / Employee Photographer)

The property, donated to Habitat in 2017, was officially transferred to a new nonprofit, chaired by Galimore, as part of this year’s June community celebrations. Now she hopes to breathe new life into the old building.

The school was built as a separate school by Wilmer-Hutchins ISD in 1953, a year before Brown vs. Board of Education. The land was donated by its namesake Melissa Pierce, a pillar of the Joppa community and the daughter of a formerly enslaved person.

The school remained open – and separate – until 1968. Although the district claimed they were separate but the same, Joppa’s school functioned differently. The school year began six weeks later so students could pick cotton for local landowners. It only served Joppa’s very black students.

But the school is much more than a symbol of racial segregation, it is a source of pride, said Yolander Thomas, who attended the school for several years in the mid-1960s. She said the isolated community and school kept students away from more extreme racism in other parts of Dallas.

“It just felt safe,” said Thomas. “We just didn’t really have a problem because we didn’t know any better.”

Dense growth covers a wall at the former Melissa Pierce School in Joppa on Thursday, July 8, 2021. The school opened as a separate school in 1953, a year before Brown vs. Board of Education, and stayed open until 1968.(Smiley N. Pool / Employee Photographer)

It provided students with a place to study close to home instead of spending half the day driving around town to other neighborhoods. It was a significant investment in the community, even if it was a tool of a racist system.

“That was by design, but it was also designed to be convenient for the people who lived there,” Galimore said. “It was a win-win situation for the students. It’s a source of pride. “

When it was donated to Habitat for Humanity in 2017, it was a church for a few years but stood empty for ten years.

“That was a thorn in the side,” said Thomas. “It was like a slap in the face.”

Habitat has already been in the community building and renovating homes, but the nonprofit’s expertise lies in single-family homes, not large community centers or aging historic buildings.

Habitat executives said they wanted to keep the school at the time, but reached out to a committee of architecture experts from the University of Texas at Arlington, community members, and representatives from the nonprofit to discuss options for the property.

“Whenever an organization has done a lot of work in a community, it’s important to always get a community voice in what we do there,” said Joli Robinson, vice president of government affairs and public order for Habitat.

Kathryn Holliday, a professor of architecture at UTA and conservationist, said the students helped formulate possible plans for the community center and worked to incorporate suggestions from community members.

“It really helped people to see that this could be something,” she said. “It’s a civil rights landmark for Dallas.”

As Habitat pondered the fate of the property for several years, some community members wondered if the ongoing discussions would bring anything.

Last year, The Dallas Morning News reported that the school ownership debate had become a wedge between community members and Habitat.

“I guess people have ideas, but the ideas keep popping in their heads and nothing has been done,” said Lola Jean Gardner, a resident of Joppa.

Earlier this year, Habitat decided to turn the property over to a new nonprofit led by Galimore, the Melissa Pierce Project. They chose the neighborhood’s annual June celebration to officially transfer the property to the new group.

“It put all the pieces together,” said Galimore. “It’s such a need, it’s not a need.”

A man walks past the former Melissa Pierce School in Joppa on Thursday, July 8, 2021.(Smiley N. Pool / Employee Photographer)

Now she’s focused on raising money to repair the building – it needs a new roof and significant renovation inside and out, for example – and starts making plans for what could become the community center.

She envisions cooking classes and dietitians to help out neighbors stuck in a food wasteland. She also envisions afternoon programs for children and senior programs for the elderly.

Her biggest dream: a pool on the two to three hectares of land. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, she worked with the YMCA to provide swimming lessons for children. She would like to extend this to adults.

Thomas said she hopes the center will become a point of pride for the community, just like the Melissa Pierce School did decades ago.

“This multipurpose center gives people a sense of pride for me,” said Thomas. “That gives us the chance to make a difference. I’m really happy that we have the chance to change the narrative. “

Galimore hopes to start fundraising soon, particularly with Joppa’s 150th anniversary celebration in 2022. Those interested in learning more about the Melissa Pierce project can email mppinc21 @ gmail for more information .com send.

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