Beulah Rucker Oliver

{{Short description|African-American educator (1888–1963)}} {{Infobox person | name = Beulah Rucker Oliver | image = Beulah Rucker Oliver circa 1909.jpg | alt = Portrait of Beulah Rucker Oliver facing the camera, circa 1909. | caption = Beulah Rucker Oliver, {{c.|1909}}. | birth_name = Beulah Rucker | birth_date = {{Birth date|1888|04|04}} | birth_place = Harmony Grove,<br/>[[Banks County, Georgia|Banks County]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]],<br/>United States | death_date = {{Death date and age|1963|02|27|1888|04|04}} | death_place = [[Gainesville, Georgia|Gainesville]], Georgia | other_names = | occupation = Teacher | years_active = | known_for = Beulah Rucker Industrial School | notable_works = ''The Rugged Pathway'' (1953) | alma_mater = [[Savannah State College]] (1944) }} '''Beulah Rucker Oliver''' (April 4, 1888 – February 27, 1963) was an [[African-American]] [[educator]] from [[Banks County, Georgia|Banks County]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]. In 1915 she opened the [[Beulah Rucker House-School|Rucker Industrial School]] in Gainesville to teach African-Americans; Rucker{{efn|After her marriage to Byrd Oliver, Rucker continued using her maiden name, especially when doing business.}} oversaw its growth and served as [[Principal (education)|principal]] for more than forty years.<ref name="nrhpdoc"/>

==Early life== The fifth of eight children and first daughter, Beulah Rucker was born on April{{nbsp}}4, 1888<ref name="ghq-chirhart-1998"/> in the Harmony Grove community<ref name="pitts-2003"/> in [[Banks County, Georgia|Banks County]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]<ref name="podo-gt-june-2020">{{cite news |last1=Podo |first1=Kelsey |title='In any time and place, this woman would be exceptional.' A donation and some history of Beulah Rucker Museum |url=https://www.gainesvilletimes.com/life/people/in-any-time-and-place-this-woman-would-be-exceptional-a-donation-and-some-history-of-beulah-rucker-museum/ |access-date=15 December 2020 |work=[[Gainesville Times (Georgia)|Gainesville Times]] |date=29 June 2020}}</ref> to Willis Rucker and Caroline Wiley, sharecroppers who both were former [[slavery|slaves]] and were never educated. From a young age, Rucker wanted to be a [[teacher]]; she read [[newspaper]]s used as insulation for the family's house in order to learn the [[alphabet]].<ref name="br-museum-about"/> Her first school, Neal's Grove, was located in a small church. Rucker went on to graduate from [[Jeruel Academy]], run by the [[American Baptist Missionary Society]], and the [[Knox Institute]], operated by the [[Freedmen's Bureau]],<ref name="pitts-2003"/> in [[Athens, Georgia|Athens]]; she cleaned the principal's home to pay for room and board, telling him, "Here are my hands; they can work".<ref name="achievement-honors"/> Classmates called her "Baby" since she was the youngest girl. Rucker graduated with honors on May{{nbsp}}28, 1909.<ref name="ghq-chirhart-1998">{{cite journal |last1=Chirhart |first1=Ann Short |title='Gardens of Education': Beulah Rucker and African-American Culture in the Twentieth-Century Georgia Upcountry |journal=[[The Georgia Historical Quarterly]] |date=Winter 1998 |volume=82 |issue=4 |pages=829–847 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40583907 |series=Georgia Women: Perspectives on Class, Race, and Ethnicity |publisher=[[Georgia Historical Society]]|jstor=40583907 }}</ref>

==Rucker Industrial School== [[File:BEULAH RUCKER HOUSE-SCHOOL, HALL COUNTY.jpg|thumb|The Beulah Rucker Museum and Education Center, 2007.]] Upset that Black students were often unable to attend many schools, Rucker decided to open a boarding school for African-Americans.<ref name="better-for-us-2003">{{cite journal |last1=Chirhart |first1=Ann Short |title='Better For Us Than It Was For Her': African American Families, Communities, and Reform in Modern Georgia |journal=[[Journal of Family History]] |date=October 2003 |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=578–602 |doi=10.1177/0363199003256925 |publisher=[[SAGE Publications|SAGE]] |s2cid=144914409 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0363199003256925 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> She purchased a 12-acre plot of land along Athens Highway in [[Gainesville, Georgia|Gainesville]] in 1911; in 1914, she purchased another plot on Norwood Street and used salvaged material, including lumber taken from the [[Piedmont Hotel]], to found the [[Beulah Rucker Industrial School]].{{efn|Also known as Gainesville High and Industrial School for Colored; Timber Ridge Elementary School; and the Beulah Rucker School.<ref name="pitts-2003">{{cite journal |last1=Pitts |first1=Winfred E. |title=Three Who Cared: Beulah Rucker, E. E. Butler, and Ulysses Byas—Twentieth-Century Trailblazers in Education for African Americans in Gainesville, Georgia |journal=[[The Georgia Historical Quarterly]] |date=Summer 2003 |volume=87 |issue=2 |pages=235–274 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40584671 |publisher=[[Georgia Historical Society]]|jstor=40584671 }}</ref>}} Some of the bricks used in construction were made by students learning [[Brickwork|brickmasonry]]. Rucker's students called her "Godmother".<ref name="ghq-chirhart-1998"/>

Rucker wrote in the ''[[Atlanta Independent]]'' on July 15, 1911, that <blockquote>We want to instill in the minds of our students that work is the law of our being, the great principle that carries our race upward. We want this school to help destroy the drawback to our race, and that's idleness. We can accomplish this through labor. [[Labor omnia vincit|"Labor conquers all things."]]<ref name="pitts-2003"/></blockquote> During the [[Great Depression]], Rucker purchased a [[Ford Model T]] for use as a [[school bus]].<ref name="thomas-gt-2012">{{cite news |last1=Thomas |first1=Brandee A. |title=Ruckers efforts helped teach generations of local students |url=https://www.gainesvilletimes.com/life/life-top-stories/ruckers-efforts-helped-teach-generations-of-local-students/ |access-date=15 December 2020 |work=[[The Gainesville Times (Georgia)|Gainesville Times]] |date=11 March 2012}}</ref> Rucker was the first African-American woman to have a school awarded a grant from the [[Rosenwald Fund]] in 1920; the funds, which continued through the 1920s, were used to build a [[cannery]], [[dormitory]], and [[workshop]] (no longer standing) on the school grounds, and a high school was added, causing attendance to rise to nearly 200.<ref name="nrhpdoc">{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=95000533}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Beulah Rucker House--School |publisher=[[National Park Service]]|author= |date= |accessdate=14 December 2020}} With {{NRHP url |id=95000533 |photos=y |title=accompanying pictures}}.</ref> Part of the education was focused on Christianity, and Rucker warned students against "the evils of [[dancing]], [[playing cards]], and drinking [[alcohol (drug)|alcohol]]".<ref name="ghq-chirhart-1998"/>

Sometime between 1949 and 1950, the main building of the school burned down.<ref name="pitts-2003"/> In 1951, Rucker established a [[night school]] aimed at helping Black [[Korean War]] veterans complete their [[GED]]s.

The Rucker Industrial School closed in 1958 when it was absorbed into the local school district.<ref name="br-museum-about"/> Even after the school's closure, African-American Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops continued to use the facilities.

During this time, Rucker earned a living by teaching in [[Private school|private]] and [[State school|public school]]s; creating and selling [[hat]]s; and giving [[music lesson]]s.<ref name="achievement-honors">{{cite web |title=Beulah Rucker Oliver Achievement Honors |url=https://www.beulahruckermuseum.org/about/beulah-rucker-oliver-achievement-honors |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724150714/http://beulahruckermuseum.org/about/beulah-rucker-oliver-achievement-honors |url-status=usurped |archive-date=July 24, 2021 |website=Beulah Rucker Museum |access-date=15 December 2020 |date=2012}}</ref>

==Personal life and later years== Rucker married [[Reverend]] Byrd Oliver, who [[1912 racial conflict in Forsyth County, Georgia|fled Forsyth County]] and brought four children from a previous marriage, {{Circa}}{{nbsp}}1914; she continued using her maiden name when doing business,<ref name="nrhpdoc"/> and signed her name "Beulah Rucker Oliver".<ref name="ghq-chirhart-1998"/> The couple had four children: Garfield, born 1916; Dorothy Oliver, born 1919; Carrie N., born 1925; and Elvernia, born 1929. Byrd Oliver died in 1947.<ref name="torches-of-light">{{cite book |last1=Chirhart |first1=Ann Short |title=Torches of Light: Georgia Teachers and the Coming of the Modern South |date=2005 |publisher=[[University of Georgia Press]] |location=[[Athens, Georgia|Athens]], [[London]] |isbn=0-8203-2446-9 |pages=242–245}}</ref><ref name="pitts-2003"/>

Rucker graduated from [[Savannah State College]] (then Georgia State College<ref name="pitts-2003"/>) in 1944 at the age of 56. She published an autobiography, ''The Rugged Pathway'', in 1953.<ref name="br-museum-about"/>

Beulah Rucker Oliver died on February 27, 1963, at the age of 74.<ref name="pitts-2003"/> She was a devout [[Baptist]].<ref name="ghq-chirhart-1998"/>

==Legacy== The Gainesville-based [[Beulah Rucker House-School|Beulah Rucker Museum and Education Center]], founded by Rucker's daughters in her honor, is named after her.<ref name="br-museum-about">{{cite web |title=Beulah Rucker |url=https://www.beulahruckermuseum.org/about/beulah-rucker |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724152802/http://beulahruckermuseum.org/about/beulah-rucker |url-status=usurped |archive-date=July 24, 2021 |website=Beulah Rucker Museum |access-date=15 December 2020}}</ref> In 1971, money was raised to convert the property to the Beulah Rucker Memorial Community Center. It was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] on May{{nbsp}}4, 1995 and fully restored by 1996.<ref name="ghq-chirhart-1998"/>

Rucker was added to the [[Georgia Women of Achievement]] Hall of Fame on March{{nbsp}}8, 2012.<ref name="achievement-honors"/> In 2013, the Beulah Rucker Oliver Memorial Intersection was named in her honor, located in front of the Rucker Museum.<ref name="wdun-shields-2013">{{cite news |last1=Shields |first1=Alyson |title=Intersection dedicated to Beulah Rucker Oliver |url=https://accesswdun.com/article/2013/7/263345 |access-date=15 December 2020 |work=[[WDUN (AM)|WDUN]] |date=9 July 2013}}</ref>

==Footnotes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rucker Oliver, Beulah}} [[Category:1888 births]] [[Category:1963 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century African-American academics]] [[Category:20th-century American academics]] [[Category:Educators from Georgia (U.S. state)]]