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Farming For A Better Future, page 361
Eastwood Hall was constructed in 1909 under the guidance of Principal Ellen G. White. The building was to be a sanatorium and Nurses' Training Center directed by Dr. M.M. Martinson. White's vision was the “expansion of the medical work among blacks in the South.” The small hospital served as one of the few places people of color could receive medical care and a rare opportunity for people of color to learn medicine in a real environment.
Although this practice was short-lived, by 1938, the building had been remodeled as the home of Elder J.L. Moran, the college's first president of color. From
(Above) 1936 USGS Topographical Map of Oakwood Junior College, Jeff, Alabama Quadrangle
1944-1965, the use of the building changed once again, as it was the home of Dr. Eva B. Dykes, the first female Ph.D. of color in America. The building was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks & Heritage as Eastwood Hall (Oakwood Sanatorium) in 1987.
Another significant piece of history on campus from the time before the school was founded is a monument that reads, “The black man's name is written in the book of life beside the white man's. All are one in Christ. Birth, station, nationality or color cannot elevate or degrade. The character makes the man.” It was placed at the site of the Key-Blow Slave Cemetery on the Oakwood campus. Dedicated in 1999 by then-President Dr. Delbert Baker, the cemetery
(Right) Portrait of Eva Dykes (Huntsville Revisited Facebook Page)
serves to remind visitors and students of the journey from plantation to the institution of higher learning that Oakwood represents. While the cemetery was never gone from memory or history books, the exact location of the approximately 40 graves was uncertain for nearly 150 years.
Although it is unclear who is buried here, among those laid to rest are believed to be the first wife and two children of the slave known as Dred Scott. Scott's master was Peter Blow, who owned a plantation with another planter, Job Key, from about 1811 to 1821 in the location that is now Oakwood University. Technically located on Key's land, the slaves of the Blow Plantation would have most likely shared the cemetery as well.
Oakwood University has been renamed many times in the past 120 years: Oakwood Industrial School, 1896;
(Above) Front Page of the Historic Huntsville Quarterly, Spring 1996, “Oakwood College: Architecture of the Spirit.” The Image is Captioned, “From Slave Huts to Stained Glass Windows.” (Below) Excerpt from 1920 Federal Census, Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama Showing Enumeration for Oakwood College (National Archives and Records Administration via Ancestry.com)
361 - MADISON
Oakwood Manuel Training School, 1904; Oakwood Junior College, 1917; Oakwood College, 1943; and Oakwood University, 2008.
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Pond Beat*
The Pond Beat community was once in south Madison County on the land that is now Redstone Arsenal. Like Mullins Flat, in the late 19th and early 20th century, Pond Beat was predominately a community of people of color. The community was founded with the beginnings of the county and the state of Alabama. Several plantations once divided the area that would be Pond Beat, including some white slave owners who became the progenitors of families of color in the community, such as the Timmons and Lacy families. After the Civil War through to the early 20th century, Pond Beat established itself with Cedar Grove Church, Horton School, New Mount Olive Church, a blacksmith shop, a sawmill, and several farms and orchards. What is now left of the community are the numerous cemeteries established by families and communities.
Many of the families of color in Pond Beat owned their own farms and homes. They donated land to the community for churches, schools, and cemeteries. - (4889)