The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was a government program created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 to help the country during the Great Depression by providing jobs. It was part of a group of policies, programs and projects known as the New Deal. Many public works projects were part of the program, as well as projects in the arts. Over 8.5 million people participated in the WPA.

Several Georgia schools had canneries on their grounds.  In 1943, Tucker, Norcross, and Chamblee High Schools were among the top Georgia schools processing canned food and helping their community. 

As I mentioned in my August 28 blog post, I was a member of the safety patrols at Pleasantdale Elementary School during the 1969-1970 school year and went on their annual trip. We went by train to Washington, D. C. and then on to New York City. It was a lot of fun, not only visiting those cities which I had never been to, but spending so much time with school friends away from the usual school setting.

I was sorting through some old family documents this week and came across a few diplomas of the women in my family including one for the Georgia Normal School in Milledgeville, Georgia. Which brings up the question-why did they call them “normal”? Normal Schools were established in Georgia towards the end of the 19th century to prepare teachers to teach elementary aged students.  It was usually a two-year program and the term normal referred to establishing clear standards or “norms” for public schools.

According to documents in the DeKalb History Center archives, Pearidge refers to an area of Tucker between Lawrenceville Highway and North Druid Hills Road, Burnt Creek and north to the railroad. Several farms were in the area, including the 250-acre R. F. Sams Truck Farm and the Honea dairy farm on Montreal Road.

DeKalb History Center archives includes history on several elementary schools from the county, including Evansdale Elementary on Evans Woods Drive in Doraville. Jim Cherry, Superintendent of DeKalb County Schools from 1947 until 1972 requested a brief history of the schools he supervised and the Evansdale one is in the archive.

According to the school history of Evansdale Elementary, it opened in September of 1967 with an enrollment of 650. The following year enrollment was 720 and in 1969 enrollment grew to 788.

Narvie Jordan Harris supervised all Black schools in DeKalb County beginning in 1944 as Jeanes Supervisor for the county. She continued in this role until desegregation in 1968. The Jeanes Supervisor program was initially funded by a one-million-dollar donation of Philadelphia Quaker Anna Jeanes in 1907. Jeanes Supervisors were Black educators hired to oversee Black schools across the United States.

J. W. Warren (1857-1940) and Emily Francis Stanton Warren (1860-1925) moved from Conyers, Georgia to Chamblee, purchasing land on Chamblee Tucker Road. Warren Elementary School was built on land that the family owned and of course the school carries their family name. Later they sold property to Atlanta Baptist College, which is now Mercer University.