MR. CARY PITTMAN

Halifax County’s experience with the construction of its Rosenwald schools was the polar opposite of Edgecombe’s. To erect Halifax’s schools, the county’s Board of Education engaged a skilled African American builder, Cary Pittman (1880-1951), who due to his work ethic, community associations, and beliefs raised high-quality buildings.

Pittman was born in Halifax County and attended school there before moving on to the Joseph Keasley Brick Agricultural, Industrial and Normal School just south of Halifax in Edgecombe County (Plate 12).

The school, from which he graduated in 1905, focused on reading and writing coupled with industrial trades, such as carpentry.

For 13 years following graduation, Pittman worked as a teacher and then as an insurance agent for the black North Carolina Mutual Company throughout eastern North Carolina and Virginia.

In 1918 he returned to Halifax County and established himself in the construction trade and farming (Bell n.d.; Crow, Escott, and Hatley 1992:157). pg. 24

In the 1920s, Pittman built upwards of 33 schools in Halifax County, as well as houses in the Tillery and Slashes communities and a complex in Enfield that housed a black hospital, drugstore, restaurant, barber shop, and living quarters.
The precise number of schools Pittman built is unclear. His daughter Ozette Pittman Bell placed it at approximately 32.

Another daughter, Almyra Pittman Wills, put the number at 30 to 33 in one account and 33 in another (Bell n.d.; Alchediak and Lang 1996; Wills 1993).

And county superintendent of schools A.E. Akers, in a letter of recommendation of March 13, 1937, addressed “To Whom It May Concern” stated that Pittman” built something like twenty-five of thirty school buildings for me during the years 1922 to 1928 inclusive” (Akers 1937) (Plates 13).

What is clear is that Pittman was a man to be reckoned with who built first-rate schools. According to daughter Almyra Wills (1993), he was very aggressive, smart, sharp, and strongly committed to Black education.
He prevailed upon a Brick teacher to sell or deed to him land near the institute, so he could put up a house there and send his children to Brick.

He was an adept builder and businessman. Wills noted that he had to furnish the money, the materials, and wages for his workers up front when constructing a school (Plate 14). When he finished the school, if the county was satisfied, he was paid.

The county was satisfied each time for, as Akers unequivocally stated in his recommendation letter, “I consider him a good workman, and a good manager.

He did these buildings for me by contract, and handled his accounts and labor so successfully that there was at no time any complaint that came to me. I consider him a good builder”
(Akers 1937). pg. 25

The Allen Grove Rosenwald school testifies to the quality of Pittman’s work. When it was moved in 1996, it suffered little more than a few cracks to its plastered walls. (Pittman’s Halifax County schools often had plastered walls.)

Repairs made to German siding near the school’s foundation fall short of the quality of the original placement of the siding. When the school was reopened on its new site, some visitors commented on the unsightly caulking added where the siding met the corner boards.
(Long 2007). PG. 46 of 353.
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Source: December 2007 RESEARCH REPORT: TOOLS FOR ASSESSING THE
SIGNIFICANCE AND INTEGRITY OF
NORTH CAROLINA’S ROSENWALD SCHOOLS
AND
COMPREHENSIVE INVESTIGATION OF
ROSENWALD SCHOOLS IN
EDGECOMBE, HALIFAX, JOHNSTON, NASH,
WAYNE, AND WILSON COUNTIES

Prepared in association with
Extension of SR 1539 on New Location from NC 48 to SR 1539,
Rocky Mount, Nash County, North Carolina

Prepared For:
Office of Human Environment
Project Development and Environmental Analysis Branch
North Carolina Department of Transportation and
Federal Highway Administration

Prepared By:
URS Corporation – North Carolina
1600 Perimeter Park Drive
Morrisville, NC 27560
Marvin A. Brown
Principal Investigator

Source link: https://files.nc.gov/.../RosenwaldSchoolsEDHXJTNSWIWL...