Oakland Normal School was a
normal school in
Oakland, Colorado County, Texas
Oakland is an unincorporated community in Colorado County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had an estimated population of 80 in 2000. It is located southwest of Weimar on Farm to Market Road 532 (FM 53 ...
for training
African American teachers. The school opened in 1882 and operated for over three decades.
and then
Robert Lloyd Smith
Robert Lloyd Smith (January 8, 1861 – July 10, 1942) was an educator, businessman, and Republican politician who served two terms in the Texas Legislature. Born a free black in Charleston, South Carolina in 1861, he moved to Texas about 1880 ...
served as the school's principals.
Robert Lloyd Smith taught at the school before becoming principal. He was active in seeking to improve the lives of the community's African Americans and formed an improvement society for farmers. The section where they lived was known as Freedmantown.
Smith travelled from Oakland to
Hampton Institute to speak and discussions included establishing an agricultural college in Texas following the Tuskegee teaching model.
A historical marker was erected for the school in 1990.
References
Schools in Colorado County, Texas
Educational institutions established in 1882
Historically black schools
1882 establishments in Texas
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