[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 4837-4838]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            HONORING DELTA INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE HIGH SCHOOL

                                  _____
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, March 24, 2017

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize 
The Delta Industrial Institute High School of Sunflower County.
  Attorney William Franklin Reden was from Illinois. In 1908 he 
graduated from The University of Iowa with his Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) 
degree. He arrived in Mississippi in 1910 and taught school for two 
years at Utica Institute in Rankin County, Mississippi. In 1914, he 
established ``The Vocational Experimental School for Negroes'' in the 
Mississippi Delta, just 1\1/2\ miles northeast of Doddsville. It was 
initially founded as an educational pilot program to teach the children 
of sharecropper's in the Mississippi Delta. The idea evolved from there 
to become ``The Delta Industrial Institute High School'' in 1917 when 
it was incorporated.
  The Delta Industrial Institute (DII) High School was a private 
institution similar to the concept of the Piney Woods Country Life 
School in Rankin County, Mississippi. DII was a boarding school on 80 
acres of State leased land. It brought hope, a renewed and change in 
the delivery of education in the Delta. Prior to the opening of the 
Institute most of the children received their education inside of 
church schools. It operated during the off season of harvesting, which 
was mainly in the winter months.
  The schools curriculum focused on Morals, Religion, Literary, and 
Industrial Education with classes in agriculture, home economics, 
academics and the development of lifelong skills. Students from 
different grade levels attended the school. There were no buses or 
automobiles to transport the children to and from school. Many of them 
walked for miles and some were barefoot without adequate clothing for 
the walk to school during the winter months. The Delta Industrial 
Institute High School was like home and family to students. They 
thought of it as a ``community'' because of the caring and sharing 
among teachers to students, in an effort to make the best of things 
given the era and lack of available resources. Their text books were 
often outdated and passed down from the white schools. So was equipment 
(e.g., home economics), and other materials.
  In a 1924 newspaper article written by Horace Sylvan Stansel, 
published in the Ruleville Record, the Mississippi Department of 
Education received its' accreditation approval as an accredited 
agricultural high school. This made it the first African American 
school in the nation to receive this accreditation. The Delta 
Industrial Institute High School was incorporated in 1917 and educated 
students for 45 years of their 50 year lease on land from the State of 
Mississippi. The school closed its doors in 1959 at the time when talks 
of consolidating the school were going on.
  Ms. Hazael Willis Barney, a graduate of the school along with other 
graduates started the Delta Industrial Institute High School (DII) 
alumni association. She is also the historian for the school. The Delta 
Industrial Institute School has educated doctors, lawyers, teachers, 
and politicians. In fact, Ms. Blanche Smith a graduate of DII went on 
to become the first Black female Mayor of Muskegon, Michigan. In a 2011 
article by Andrea Hall, printed in the Commonwealth Greenwood 
newspaper, Ms. Barney commented on her inspiration for preserving the 
history of the Delta Industrial Institute High School by saying, ``We 
are all only here for a short time, so each generation must leave an 
imprint . . . The DII is an important part of each black student's 
history in this state.''

[[Page 4838]]

  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the Delta 
Industrial Institute High School located 1\1/2\ miles northeast of 
Doddsville, MS located in Sunflower County inside of the Second 
Congressional District of Mississippi.

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