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Farming For A Better Future, page 232
(Above) School Census Card for the Davis Family with Children at Red Bank School, 1930 (Lawrence County Archives, Moulton, Alabama) were African American. The population declined to 70% of households in 1930 and 1940. Bank is a much smaller district than Town Creek and Courtland. Nonetheless, it appears to have been home to a strong African American community, only rivaled by Hillsboro. While other areas were losing families of color and farmers, one in every ten African American households in Red Bank were landowning from at least 1920 to 1940. Tom Fuqua owned his farm from at least 1910 to 1940. Red Bank School* The community of Red Bank has all three important landmarks of a community - Red Bank Missionary Baptist Church and Cemetery, Red Bank Cemetery, and Red Bank School. The Red Bank School was one of about 20 rural schools for African American children in the county in the early 20th century. It is included in the school census records for 1930 and appears on the 1935 USGS/TVA topographic map at the center of the community as a symbol for a school. While many of the rural African American Schools were not located in the center of a community or town, Red Bank was predominately African American. Also, the close association with the church is a fairly good indication of an African American school, and by the 1950s, the school is no longer noted on maps. Red Bank Missionary Baptist Church & Cemetery On the 1952 USGS topographic map, a church symbol appears instead of a school. By 1974, the church is accompanied by a cemetery. This is the Red Bank Missionary Baptist Church and Cemetery. The cemetery only has seven marked graves dating from 1947 to 1978. Four of the seven are members of the Wilson family. The earliest interment is Mollie Wilson (1866-1947). Although the church appears to predate the cemetery, appearing on maps in 1952, the cemetery may not have a full record or be completely associated with the church. Red Bank (Troup) Cemetery The Red Bank Cemetery is also known as Troup Cemetery, which is how it appears on topographic maps from at least 1952 to the present. It has at least 46 burials. It appears that the Troupe family first used the cemetery as early as 1909. Most of the African American burials are from recent decades. 251 Rocky Hill* The community of Rocky Hill was located outside of Courtland to the northwest. It was once a plantation with a manor house known as Rocky Hill Castle. Later a Rosenwald school for African American children named for the plantation and community was located on Jefferson Street, where it meets Joe Wheeler Highway. The manor house and school are gone now but contribute to the history of Courtland. (Below) 1936 USGS/TVA Topographic Map of Rocky Hill, Courtland, Alabama Quadrangle The number of farming landowners did not follow the same trend as the overall population. For most of the early 20th century, about 7% of the African American households owned their farm in Red Bank. This constituted 10 farms in 1900, 13 farms in 1910, 16 farms in 1920, and 14 farms in 1930. However, by 1940 when only 70% of the total households were African American, there were 20 African American-owned farms. That year, 10% of the African American community owned farms, significantly higher than the surrounding communities. To the southwest, in Town Creek, only 4% of the total households in 1940 were African American farm owners. To the southeast, Courtland had only 8 African American-owned farms in 1940. This represented 2% of the African American households, or 22% of the overall population. Red * Indicates a Historical - Non-Extant Resource farmers. For the small number of African American-owned farms, landowners of Red Bank exhibited long term occupation of those farms. Of the 13 landowners in 1910, five had owned the previous decade. In 1920, six of the 16 landowners owned their farm for over 10 years, and one had owned for more than 20 years. The most remarkable year is 1930 when 10 of the 14 landowners had previously been recorded as landowners in 1920. Three of these 10 had owned since 1910. Although there were more landowners than any previous year, in 1940, there were only four landowners who had owned previously. However, all of them had owned a farm from at least 1920 and one since 1910. Susie Troupe, Ed Warren, and Frank Davis owned farms KEY COMMUNITIES CEMETERIES CHURCHES | PLANTATIONS SCHOOLS - (4760)