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History of John Russell Hawkins High School ©

John Russell Hawkins High School was named for a Warrenton, North Carolina native who began his professional career as a teacher and later assumed the principalship of the local Graded School for Negro Students. In the late l 880s, he joined the faculty of Kittrell College, Kittrell, North Carolina as a professor and was later elected as its president. He served as the Secretary of the Department of Education and Financial Secretary for the African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1916, he was the associate editor of The Centennial Encyclopedia of The African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Parents who lived in the southern part of Warren County petitioned the Warren County 

Board of Education for a high school in their district and it was granted. Members of the community, along with parents, dug the clay, made the bricks by hand, and worked as brick masons and carpenters to erect a two-story Rosenwald building (Funds were received from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation, Warren County Board of Education, and donations from parents and members of the African American community). The high school campus was located across the street from the elementary building (grades one through seven), and housed grades eight through eleven. A home for the principal, also a Rosenwald structure, was built on the high school campus. Construction of the high school began in 1924 and the first class graduated in the spring of 1929.

John R. Hawkins High School flourished and frequently enrolled 1,000+ students annually. The school was accredited by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Its 48+ teachers were fully certified with A Certificates (in their fields of endeavor) and some held both Bachelors' and Masters' Degrees. Its students, though they functioned in an environment which had limited resources- old textbooks that had previously been used by Warren County Schools white students, no science laboratories, inadequate equipment for all programs including athletics, and 48+ coal-burning, pot-bellied stoves, just to name a few - were successful. Many of its graduates became teachers, principals, assistant/associate superintendents and superintendents, college professors, biologists, chemists, physicists, medical doctors, dentists, psychologists, engineers, farmers, seamstresses and tailors, police officers, factory workers, recording artists, and even featured leading mezzo sopranos at the Metropolitan Opera Company. This list goes on and on. Annually, teachers, parents, and students participated in a fundraising effort known as the Miss Hawkins High School Popularity Contest. Its purpose was to provide supplemental funds for educational needs not provided by Warren County or the state of North Carolina. Students who attended John R. Hawkins High School were supported educationally by their principals and teachers, but they were also loved by their parents, and appreciated by their communities. 

The high school curriculum included: English 1-IV, General Mathematics, Algebra 1-11, Geometry, General Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Social Studies, US History, World History, French 1-11, Typing 1-11, Shorthand I-11, Home Economics I-IV, Agriculture 1-IV, Bricklaying I-IV, Music 1-11. Extracurricular activities included: Elementary, Seventh Grade, and Eighth Grade Operettas, Elementary Rhythm Band and Glee Club, Junior High School Glee Club, High School Glee Club, High School Band, Student Council, Drama Club, Crown and Scepter Club (Honor Society), National Honor Society, New Farmers of America, New Homemakers of America, and Athletics (Girls and Boys Basketball, Football, Baseball and Cheerleaders). Students represented this school at district, state, and national academic and athletic competitions and won major awards at many. Even though the gymnatorium was built late in the school's history, basketball games were often played on hardened red clay before games were played in Warrenton tobacco warehouses. Prior to the school's hosting of the Junior-Senior Prom, students in these classes attended a formal banquet instead. Etiquette and fine manners were instilled in students. These activities gave students the opportunity to socialize in a different type of chaperoned setting. 

John R. Hawkins Alumni and Friends, Incorporated, a 501(c)(3) was chartered in 1972 with the goal of maintaining the legacy of this school. The organization provides scholarships for Warren County high school graduates who wish to enroll in four-year colleges and universities. It also holds educational activities for high school students and their parents. Why does this organization feel the need to do this? It is done because the members of John R. Hawkins Alumni and Friends, Incorporated – former students, teachers, and friends - see the need for providing Warren County students with a sense of history, knowledge of the struggles of the past, and the many positives that John R. Hawkins High School students received not only from their principals and teachers, but from custodians, cafeteria workers, adult bus drivers, and other employees. In the 45 years (1924-1969) that this school was in existence, it only had four principals - a Mr. Lester, Mr. Daniel Marshall Jarnagin, Sr., Mr. James Estes Byers, and Mr. Lyman Beecher Henderson, Sr. Each of these gentlemen left an indelible imprint on students who were enrolled; and they will long be remembered for their contributions to public school education.

In 2009, I was commissioned by John R. Hawkins Alumni and Friends, Incorporated to seek a grant from the North Carolina Community Foundation for the purpose of placing signage on the school site for present and future generations. Seed money was provided by the Unrestricted Trust Fund of the Warren County Foundation. The signage was built using bricks that were saved from the demolition of the high school building. Dedication took place on September 5, 2009 during the Homecoming Celebration.

Even though this building is no longer standing, the commemorative marker on the front lawn shows a picture of the school with its stately facade and banks of windows outlining each classroom. Yes, this site is a landmark in the history of education for Warren County's African American students, and it shall not be forgotten. The students who attended and graduated from John Russell Hawkins High School made positive contributions to the Warren County community, the state of North Carolina, the United States of America, and to the world.

Jennie A. Johnson Franklin   

Class of 1959

(Excerpted from remarks given by 

the writer at the unveiling 

of the commemorative marker 

on the site of the former 

John R. Hawkins High School 

on September 5, 2009)

The History of John Russell High School ©