The Pomfret Colored School as described in the Maryland Historical Trust document the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties CH 100 “Pomfret Colored School”, is a simple early-1920s frame schoolhouse. Erected in the early 1920s as an expansion of an existing African American grade school, Pomfret Colored School “retains its original form, interior stove flue, and pressed metal-shingle roof”. It occupies an acre lot on Marshall Corner Road near Pomfret. The Pomfret Colored School is one of only a few remaining examples of African American educational facilities from the era of segregation remaining in Charles County. The building served as a fourth through seventh-grade school for African Americans between 1920 and 1950.” In the 1950’s it was converted for domestic use.
The original one-room Pomfret Colored School was established sometime after 1901 when Samuel Freeman, a local African-American landowner, donated a small tract of land for the school. Local men under the leadership of John Briscoe constructed it. The original building no longer stands, but was located near the present building. It was “a box-shaped building with two windows on either side and one entrance” There were two outhouses. The modest classroom building was heated by a single wood-burning stove and a nearby well supplied the school with water.
By the early 1920s, the African-American population in the area had grown as had the demand for higher levels of education. Therefore, with the help of the Julius Rosenwald Foundation, a philanthropic
organization established by the chairman of the Sears, Roebuck Company to aid in the education of poor children, the County erected the new school building at Pomfret to house the fourth through seventh
grades. The school continued to operate until the 1940s. In the 1950’s it was sold and became a private home.
Two of the early teachers at the school were Georgia C. Lucas and Estella Burkhead. Both were appointed to teach at Pomfret in 1926, each was in charge of one of the two classroom buildings.
Additional Resources
CH-100 Pomfret Colored School – apps.mht.maryland.gov
“Fair talks shine light on Charles County school desegregation”, by Jamie Anfenson-Comeau, Sothern Maryland Newa, September 14, 2016. Fair talks shine light on Charles County school desegregation | Local News | somdnews.com
Brown, Jack D., et al. Charles County, Maryland, A History. Charles County Bicentennial Committee, 1976.
