Woman seeks info on all-black school

Once upon a time in Du Quoin, more than a century ago, there was Lincoln High School, an all-black high school that opened in the early 1900s and closed in the mid-1940s. Myra Johnson of Virginia has been working for years, independently, to collect information on the school and her ancestors.
"I spent about two and a-half years in Du Quoin as a youth," she said. "I went to junior high school and my first semester of high school in Du Quoin.
"Most of my relatives were born in Du Quoin," she wrote. "Some of them attended Lincoln in the early to mid-1900s. It's a unique school and a unique period of life in Illinois."
Johnson has published part of her collection online at illinoishsglorydays.com, along with her request for more information. In 2014 she published a book (for her family) about her ancestors and Lincoln High School.
The Illinois High School Glory Days Web site has been dedicated to the collection of information and stories on all "closed, consolidated, deactivated and defunct high schools in Illinois' storied history" since its inception 12 years ago. They are at 1,175 high schools and 5,300 photos and counting.
Lincoln High School has a "page" on the site, written and posted by Johnson.
She wrote that the Du Quoin Lincoln High School Warriors were members of the highly competitive Southern Illinois Colored Schools Conference, which included schools from Cairo, Colp, Mounds, Mounds City, Brookport, Metropolis, Carbondale and East St. Louis. Lincoln High School had teams that played basketball and baseball and ran track. They also had a school band.
"Professor Charles 'Fess' Smith was a well-known coach in the conference and turned out many great teams at the school," she wrote.
Individuals drove players to away games. They included Professor Smith, E.W. Owens and Holsey Dabner. Home games were played at the nearby West Park School Gymnasium.
The Lincoln High School Warriors basketball team won three straight conference championships in the 1920s along with a silver trophy with all of the players' names engraved on it. Members of that championship team included Sylvester and Valdor Vessel, Andrew Lanum, Maynard Farris, Orlando Scott, Julian Holmes, Alex Hooks, Cecil Johnson, and Robert "Honey " Jackson.
Johnson is still looking for photos or information on students at Lincoln High School in Du Quoin in the early 1900s to mid-1900s, specifically for any information on her ancestors, which include Leroy (1903-1956) and Harold Roberts (1915-1983), Florence R. Roberts Fairfax (1906-1979), Mable A. Roberts Davis (1916-1986) and Myrtle V. Roberts Johnson (1909-1971). Contact her at myravj2003@yahoo.com.
To contribute high school information to the Illinois High School Glory Days Web site, send an email to ihsgdwebsite@comcast.net, send a message on their Facebook page, or write to Illinois HS Glory Days, 6439 Neva St., Chicago, Ill., 60631.