CHESTERTOWN — The legacy of a leading Black educator in Kent County will be celebrated this week with the naming of a media center in her honor.
The request to name the media center was submitted to the Kent County Board of Education by Chestertown resident Karen Somerville on behalf of Miller’s descendants and fellow Kent County residents.
Somerville is a curation fellow with the Chesapeake Heartland project at Washington College. The project preserves and digitizes local African American history, of which Miller is an important part.
As stated in the petition to name the media center in her honor, the original Garnet School graduated its first class of five students in 1925.
The building of the school was “the direct result of a campaign executed and achieved through the service of Emma Miller who since 1911 had held the position as Supervisor of Colored Schools.”
“Miller, with an exemplary heart for service, took on the duty to rally parents and citizens alike to finance the construction of the school and further to persuade officials that education beyond the sixth grade be made available in the county to African American pupils,” the petition states.
The December 10th dedication ceremony will include Somerville and Carolyn Brooks, also of the Chesapeake Heartland Project; Peggy Brown, president of the Garnet Alumni Association; H.H. Garnet Elementary School music students; Principal Brenda Rose; Dr. Karen Couch, superintendent of Kent County Public Schools; and additional guests.
H.H. Garnet Elementary School is located at 320 Calvert St., Chestertown.
Learn more about the Chesapeake Heartland project at chesapeakeheartland.org.
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KCPS – HHGES