Redefining an African American Cultural Landscape: The Relocation and Preservation of the Lee-Buckner Rosenwald School

Abstract

The Lee-Buckner Rosenwald School’s history and place in the Duplex community of Williamson County, Tennessee, is not unlike other rural African American schools in the South. In 1868, the Freedman’s Bureau established the Rural Hill School in a log building that doubled as the Rural Hill United Methodist Church and served the Rural Hill community. In the 1890s the Rural Hill community was renamed the Duplex community, and the school became the Lee School and subsequently the Lee-Buckner School. In 1927 the African American residents of Duplex raised money and received funds form the Rosenwald Fund to build a new schoolhouse on the adjacent property to the former Rural Hill Methodist Episcopal Church and School. The new schoolhouse became the Lee-Buckner Rosenwald School and served the Duplex community until 1965 when schools in Williamson County were integrated. The schoolhouse was abandoned until February 2024 when it was relocated to the campus of Franklin Grove Estate and Gardens in the city of Franklin in Williamson County. Lee-Buckner School was a part of the African American cultural landscape that formed the Duplex community which, like other rural African American communities, were built around churches, schools, and cemeteries. The absence of the Lee-Buckner School from the Duplex community leaves a physical and historical void. In its new location it is imperative to preserve and interpret the school building, its history, and how it fits into a new landscape that once enslaved African Americans and later denied them ownership of the property.