From Southport to Morocco and Back
Lois Gore-Thompson was a student of the Rosenwald schools before integration
Paris, Spain, and Morocco are worlds away from Jabbertown Road in Southport, but LOIS GORE-THOMPSON has traveled them all.
Born in Southport in 1941, Gore-Thompson has happy memories of growing up in a close family and attending a Rosenwald school prior to integration. The education she received served her well, enabling her to follow her lifelong dream to travel. But she knew she would always return to Southport to live on the waterfront.
Her Brunswick County school had a champion. Julius Rosenwald, businessman and philanthropist was part owner of Sears, Roebuck & Company, according to reports. Through Paul J. Sachs of Goldman Sachs, he met prominent educators William H. Baldwin and Booker T. Washington. They discussed the difficulty of African American students in the South who were trying to manage with inadequate buildings and books.
The situation prompted him to establish the Rosenwald Fund, which donated millions in matching monies to support the education of African American children. Schools receiving benefits had to raise matching funds or subsidize with labor. Fisk University’s Rosenwald database lists ten schools that benefitted from those funds in New Hanover County and eleven schools in Brunswick County.
“I went to Brunswick County Training School,” says Gore-Thompson, gazing out at the water as she tugs at long resting memories.
“We went there first grade through twelfth grade in the same school. I had some of the best teachers you could ever want. The teachers would do whatever it took.”
Gore-Thompson describes the school’s principal, Alvin C. Caviness, as phenomenal; firm but with heart. A park near the current school is named after him.
She remembers several of her teachers and the roles their lessons would play later in her career.
There was Mr. Frink, still a resident of Southport, who taught Glee Club and French. Gore-Thompson participated in Glee Club but later had reason to wish she had taken his French class.
“Mrs. Green was my typing teacher … I got the Gregg award because of her when I was in college,” Gore-Thompson says.
“My physics and science teacher, Mrs. Ophelia Parker who became my stepmother later, taught me the sciences: biology and physics,” she says. “What I found in life is that everything you take plays a part and you need it.”
Years later, she was the only person in a job-related training class who could complete an exercise, and she did it by applying her knowledge of physics.
Gore-Thompson had several strong role models. Her mother died at a young age, but her father kept the family going.
“I guess we were poor, but I didn’t know it. My father always had a job. He worked on fishing boats. We were the first ones to have a TV in Jabbertown. Remember black and white TVs? The neighbors would come and watch the TV from the porch … My dad was so great. He never complained … all he wanted was for his family to be happy,” she says.
After earning an AA degree in business administration from Carver College – now Mecklenburg College in Charlotte – Gore-Thompson studied at Johnson C. Smith University for a year and then finished her undergraduate work at the University of Maryland. She studied toward a master’s degree at American University, Howard University, and the University of Maryland.
When she discovered that the U.S. Department of Agriculture served sixty foreign countries, Gore-Thompson found her ticket to travel. In a career that spanned thirty-two years, she started out as a clerk typist and progressed to training and teaching seminars for clerical, supervisory, and management personnel. After five years of serving in Washington, D.C., she was eligible for overseas assignments.
Snagging the position as assistant to the agriculture attaché in Rabat, Morocco led her to wish she had taken that French class at Brunswick County Training School.
“I had to take five months of French eight hours a day,” she says. “Everything was in French and Arabic and English [in Morocco].”
That position opened the opportunity to the travel as she’d always wanted, in part because a friend encouraged her to sing at one of the consulate events. She agreed to perform “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands,” not knowing that she would be facing a room of 500 people. They loved it, and her talent paved the way to visit other countries.
On holidays, she used her own time to travel to Paris, Spain, Tunisia, Libya, and other locations, to sing in different venues. Her performances were so well received that she was nicknamed the “Black Pearl.”
“Morocco and Paris are my favorites,” says Gore-Thompson, her face launching into a wide smile. “I’ve been to Paris many times.”
One of the greatest joys in her life was her daughter, Jamila. Finishing high school at the age of sixteen, college at nineteen, and passing the bar to become an attorney at the age of twenty-two, she was a rising star. A sudden illness ended her life at the age of twenty-seven. Gore-Thompson thinks of her daughter every day.
And she never forgot her native Southport. She returned there in 1993 with husband, Ron, to live on the waterfront, as she always wanted. Besides taking yoga and refresher classes in French, singing, and playing piano, she continues her professional work. She and her husband set up their own business, Creative Training Concepts International, to teach teambuilding and customer service for employers such as the Wilmington airport and Corning. They also do individual training.
“What I love about training is it is so rewarding to be able to change behavior,” Gore-Thompson says.
FIELD TRIP
An installation at the Cameron Art Museum focuses on school desegregation in the region and the closing of area schools. The “School Pride: The Eastern NC Story, An Installation by Willie Cole” exhibit was staged in observation of the fiftieth anniversary of the Civil Rights Act signing and will be on display at the museum through November 2.
A gallery talk with several alumni of the sixteen local schools that closed during desegregation takes place September 25 at the museum.
Cameron Art Museum, 3201 South 17th Street (cameronartmuseum.org)
To view more of photographer Katherine Clark's work, go to http://www.katherineclarkphotography.com.
