About

“Hitch your cart and shoot for the stars ” was Spring Hill’s vision in a phrase my dad, Dewey Townsend, often said to his students at Spring Hill.

Born in 1962, I never attended the school before it closed, but do remember a half torn down school building which is part of this history .

Spring Hill is an American history story about how ex-slaves and its descendants helped build America.

During my coming of age in Mississippi, this remarkable history was presented every single year during church anniversary. It was long, meticulously precise, and the same every year. The story was different from other black stories in Mississippi. In Spring Hill , I noticed there was no sharecropping. I noticed they had cars even in the old days. I noticed the church would award university scholarships to high school grads every single year. I noticed school and family reunions occurred all the time to stay connected. I noticed Spring Hill spearheaded, collaborated with area churches, and helped build a district church conference building. I noticed the sustainment of the cemetery is perpetually funded by families. I notice even today, the grounds are still being improved and immaculate.

Most notable, however, Spring Hill inspired and showed me that there is no inferior race.

Just by my attending church and watching leadership in action at Spring Hill, I knew to what really made you powerful and strong enough to presevere beyond all odds. And it was not your skin. It was the power of knowledge.

—— Gayle Townsend Boclair