Preserving Our Past, Empowering Our Future — Beyond the Schoolyard

​How a Rosenwald-era school, a historical landmark campaign, and one Texas town shaped my most personal documentary yet.
Some stories don’t let you go. This is one of them.

Some stories don’t let you go, and for me, this is one of them.
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Calvert Colored High School was built in 1929 under the Rosenwald School Fund—an initiative that transformed Black education across the rural South. My grandmother, Charlie Mae Babers, was one of its graduates. And in 2020, after she passed, I felt called to do more than grieve. I felt called to remember—and to make that memory public.

What followed was a four-year effort to get the school designated as a Texas Historical Landmark. That success became the spine of Beyond the Schoolyard, a feature-length documentary on Black education, cultural memory, and community resilience.

Why This School Still Matters

The Rosenwald Fund built nearly 5,000 schools for Black students in the Jim Crow South. These weren’t just buildings—they were launchpads. Calvert’s school helped Black students compete for jobs once reserved for white workers. It reshaped trajectories.
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When we got the state designation in 2024, it wasn’t just a win for history—it was a stand against forgetting. Especially now, in an era where legislation like Texas Senate Bill 17 aims to erase DEI from public education.

Remembering is an act of Resistance

Beyond the Schoolyard opens with the casting of the school’s historical marker—an act of remembrance in direct contrast to state-level erasure. The film weaves archival footage, interviews, and present-day reflection to explore:

• What we inherit when schools are closed but memory remains
• The political stakes of Black educational spaces
• Why remembering is a form of resistance

What We've Done—and What’s Next

✅ Full coverage of the 2024 dedication ceremony
✅ Preliminary interviews and archival research complete
🎞 Trailer and pitch deck ready
📝 Production timeline and post-production plan in place for Summer 2027

​Now, we’re in Phase II: Interviews with as many alumni from the earliest to last students of the Calvert Colored, W.D. Spigner, Calvert High School

This isn’t just a film about a school. It’s about the people who built futures from it—and the legacy we owe them.The fight for Black education didn’t end with integration. It didn’t begin with segregation. ​It continues--Beyond the Schoolyard.