- School
- Segregation
- 1938–1968
- DeKalb County
Bruce Street School, Lithonia
A granite school for Black students in Lithonia, built by quarry workers in 1938 and closed in 1968 as the county desegregated. The Arabia Mountain Heritage Area Alliance calls it DeKalb County's first public school for Black students.
The record
The school began as the Yellow River School and was renamed the Lithonia Negro School. Community trustees bought land on Bruce Street and raised money to build it, and quarry workers put it up in granite in 1938 (Arabia Mountain Heritage Area Alliance). Its first graduating class, around 1943, had three students; by 1968 it held over a dozen elementary and eight high-school classrooms. It closed in 1968 as DeKalb desegregated; the 1969 federal consent order then closed the county's remaining Black schools. The 'first' claim conflicts with Scottdale's Avondale Colored School (1924), so it may refer to the county's first purpose-built public school for Black students.
Today: Granite ruins on Bruce Street in Lithonia with a historical marker. DeKalb County, the City of Lithonia and the Arabia Mountain alliance are planning to preserve the site.