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Louise Robinson Parker is one of the oldest members of First Baptist, a historic black church in Brownsville, Tennessee. At the age of 100, she has an excellent memory recalling many interesting facts, including those of her childhood. Louise grew up in the community known as Saint Paul. Her father and mother did not remain together causing her to be uprooted. This was a life-changing experience. She went to live with her aunt, uncle and cousin. Her mother was hired as a cook and nanny for a wealthy white family, C. T. Hooper owner of an oil company, which required her to spend days as well as some nights at their home.

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While living with her aunt and uncle, Louise became close to her cousin even though there was an age difference. Due to this age difference, she was not allowed to go to school and had to wait until her cousin was old enough to go to school. Louise was  curious and inquisitive and learned quickly. She was often told to be quiet because she asked so many questions. So, around 1932, Louise and her cousin started their educational journey at Haywood County Training School. As stated previously, Louise learned quickly, mastering many skills, allowing her to be placed in her correct grade. The Saint Paul community is approximately four  miles from town  with little or no transportation for getting students to and from school. Since they were too young to walk alone, Louise’s mother paid two older girls, Janie Mae and Gracie, to walk with them.

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Very few black families at that time owned land so families stayed on farms owned by whites.  Louise, her aunt, uncle and cousin stayed on Joe Dickeson’s farm. According to Louise, they were treated respectfully for that time. She recalls the abundance of food that was made available to them . There were many fruit trees on the property as well as rich soil for growing. This enabled them to have plenty of food; they were never hungry. She also remembers carrying their lunches to school which consisted of a ham or sausage biscuit in a tin bucket with a lid and handle.  

 

Haywood County Training School, which consisted of grades one through twelve, was located on Jefferson Street in the same location as the last black only school, Carver High School. The principals  in charge while Louise attended were Professor Jeffries and Professor Roy Bond. Ms. Stella Bond and Ms. Buelah Hill were two primary grade teachers during that time. Lousie did not have a lot to say about the middle school. She did, however, have vivid memories of her high school years. She believes they started the ninth grade with roughly ninety plus students. They sat on wooden benches which could be a fun thing when they engaged in shoving matches behind the teacher’s back causing classmates to fall to the floor. Louise was considered a little bit of a class clown. She recalls one time her silliness caused her to be sent home because her classmates burst into laughter and would not stop as she recited her poem.

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Louise also remembers male teachers along with  male students being responsible for making the fires to heat the school in rustic, pot belly stoves. Some of her high school teachers she remembers were Ms. Violet Ingram, Ms. Geneva Miller, Ms. Arelia Bachelor,  and Professor Ashworth even though he worked primarily with male students. She also remembers the enrollment declining, it dropped due to classmates either marrying, moving away or taking on various jobs. Since this was the time when World War II was going on, many male students were drafted into the military leaving about eighteen or twenty of her classmates to graduate. Some of these classmates were Pearl Qualls, Bill Rawls, Buck Bond, Aaron Hawkins, Harvey Shepard, Archie D. Sanders and Bland Boyd.

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Louise graduated in 1944, one year before the war ended, and married Howell T. Parker of Brownsville, Tennessee, giving birth to the magical number of seven children.