Lincoln Academy (Kings Mountain, North Carolina)


Lincoln Academy was an elementary school and secondary school, including boarding students, for African-American children in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, United States. It was founded in 1886 by Miss E. C. Prudden.
In 1888, the American Missionary Association of the Congregational Church took over the administration, and the school became co-educational in 1889.

Location

Established on at All Healing Springs, the school was situated at the foot of Crowders Mountain. It was southeast of the town of Kings Mountain and 4 miles west of Gastonia, on the national highway from New York City to Atlanta.

History

The African-American girls' school was founded in 1886 by Miss E. C. Pruden, a Christian missionary from Massachusetts. It was turned over to the American Missionary Association in 1888, and for more than 20 years, under the principalship of Miss L. S. Cathcart and other leaders, the school grew. It admitted boys in 1889.
In the following decade, enrollment increased, a new building was constructed, and dormitories were added. Cathcart Memorial Hall was added in 1900, and additional buildings were added over the following 20 years.
In 1916, there were 12 teachers and more than 200 students, 68 of whom were boarding students, the others being day students of the region. The academy had 11 buildings. A mothers' meeting was held weekly to discuss problems. Reading circles were conducted by two teachers. The pastor of the Lincoln Academy Church also influenced instruction. Principal I. Alva Hart stated at the time:
Class room work at Lincoln Academy, no doubt, is like class room work in any other secondary school under the A. M. A. For example in teaching our aim is not to teach subjects alone, but through the subjects to teach the student how to think and what to think.... Every pupil and every problem that comes up is an original one and the teacher must find an original way to solve it; must define words because the vocabulary is so small; must interpret thought because the comprehension of relation is so meager. Moreover the pupils so lack concentration that to hold their attention is always a problem within itself. Then their 'had wents', 'done gone', 'mountings', 'fountings', 'aim to go', 'figered to do so', 'met up with', the vocabulary of their homes, make the task seem as large as King's Mountain itself. History means little to them because their people have played such a small part in the history we study. But they wake up when the teacher can bring to them an illustration where their people have taken an active and honorable part. It is a great pleasure to see most of them working with a determination to be better prepared for the great struggle of life that is before them.

The state of North Carolina began the process of converting the academy into a public school in 1922. The school added the eighth grade program in 1938–39, and the academy attained accreditation through the North Carolina State Board of Education at that time. In 1943, the AMA sought community activism for the school, with Edgar D. Wilson becoming the official director in the following year. Gaston County took over the school's administration in 1947, but the AMA continued to serve the students who were boarding. When new public schools for African-American students opened in 1955, the academy was shuttered.

Notable students