Enslavement to
freedom
Notes, observations, historical hints, tidbits and stories from the community.
Study Areas
Old Mail
2002 Mail
2003 Mail
2004 Mail
2005 Mail
2006 Mail
2007 Mail
2009 Mail
2003 Mail
Wickersham School Memories
From Sheila Green-Stevenson, May 15, 2003
I was searching for information on the William Howard Day Cemetery when I came across this site which brought back so many memories from my childhood. My grandfather settled in Harrisburg from Havana, Cuba in the late 1800's and my grand mother was from Virginia. I too went to Wickersham School and remember a few of the teachers: Ms. Jones, Mrs. Helena Coates-Spradley (who married my cousin) and the principal, who at that time was Ms. Catherine Johnson. My sister and I spent first and second grades at the Central School because Wickersham was overcrowded. We were taught by a wonderful women by the name of Helen Armstrong who not only supplied her class with graham crackers and milk but shared her daughter's playhouse and dolls. Also, she made home visits to let our parents know how we were progressing in school. One day my mother got tired of us using the old, torn books from Boas School and marched my sister and I down there. She probably had the first sit-in at a Harrisburg school as she would not leave until we were-enrolled. They eventually did, even though they threatened her!
From there we went to the old Camp Curtin Junior High school on 6th Street and graduated from William Penn High in 1956. My husband graduated from Steel-High, during which, at that time, the senior prom was segregated! We love the site and will continue to give it our attention!
To see photographs submitted by Sheila Green-Stevenson, click here.