A short distance off I-95’s Exit 3 in Kingsland, Georgia is Matilda Harris Elementary School, named after Matilda Tompkins Harris, the first female African American teacher in Camden County. She later served as Camden County’s Supervisor of Black Schools and was instrumental in furthering African American education in the area.

Born in Camden County in 1857, Harris was educated by private teachers and received teacher training in Jacksonville, Florida. Upon finishing her studies, Harris began her teaching and administrative career in 1871 (a decade after the Civil War. Early in her career, Harris traveled throughout the county to teach its African American citizens and served as its first home demonstration agent. Her service to educating local youth continued for 60 years.

In 1920, during Harris’ tenure as the Camden County Supervisor of Black Schools, the African American community of Kinlaw sought to build a larger, more formal school building to educate its school-aged children beyond the one-room schoolhouses common for African Americans in the area. With Harris’ guidance and assistance, the residents of Kinlaw received a Rosenwald grant, an initiative started in 1912 by educator Booker T. Washington and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald to build schools in underfunded and underserved rural African American communities throughout the South and Southwest. The Kinlaw School (one of 259 Rosenwald Schools built in Georgia) held its first classes in 1921 and went on to educate generations of African Americans in Camden County.

To honor Matilda Harris’ legacy, the State of Georgia General Assembly designated the Camden County Training School as the Matilda Harris Elementary School in 1964.

References

Brown, B. (2021, September 24). Restoration of the Kinlaw Rosenwald School, Camden County. Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown. https://vanishinggeorgia.com/2021/09/24/restoration-of-the-kinlaw-rosenwald-school-camden-county/

Eaton, J. (2004). Three Surviving Rosenwald Schools: The Georgia Inventory. Reflections, 4(4), 4–4. https://doi.org/https://www.dca.ga.gov/sites/default/files/2004_-_11_reflections.pdf

Hill, E. G. (2022, July 6). Home Demonstration Clubs. Encyclopedia of Arkansas. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/home-demonstration-clubs-5387/

Intrado Corporation. (2023). Welcome to Matilda Harris Elementary. Matilda Harris Elementary. https://mhes.camden.k12.ga.us/#:~:text=Matilda%20Harris%20was%20the%20first,year%20educational%20career%20in%201871

Intrado Corporation. (2023). Matilda Harris Elementary School Photo. Matilda Harris Elementary. https://mhes.camden.k12.ga.us/#:~:text=Matilda%20Harris%20was%20the%20first,year%20educational%20career%20in%201871

South Georgia Normal and Industrial Inc. (2023). Kinlaw Rosenwald School Project. https://kinlawrosenwald.wixsite.com/school

Stoddard, Dr. A. H., & Thompson, E. B. (2008). The Tompkins-Holzendorf Legacy. Historic St. Marys Magazine, (5), 83–84.

Not Available (1927/1929). [Photograph of Matilda Ann Tompkins Harris, Saint Marys, Camden County, Georgia, ca. 1927-1929? ]. Retrieved from http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/vang/do:cam006

Not Available (1928). [Photograph of Matilda Ann Tompkins Harris and family, Saint Marys, Camden County, Georgia, 1928 ]. Retrieved from http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/vang/do:cam007