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BY 1883, LIBERTY COUNTY MAINTAINED 53 SCHOOLS, INCLUDING 19 AFRICAN AMERICAN SCHOOLS. THE AVERAGE SCHOOL TERM WAS THREE MONTHS FOR AGES 8-14 BUT THE ONLY SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN IN DAYTON WAS LOCATED NEAR THE SETTLEMENTS OF STILSON AND FOUTS.
IN THE LATE 1890s, THE SCHOOL DISTRICT HIRED THEIR FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN TEACHER, ANNIE (FAIRCHILD) COLBERT (1866-1961). BORN IN HOUSTON, SHE ATTENDED HOUSTON SCHOOLS AND THEN TILLOTSON INSTITUTE IN AUSTIN. SHE TAUGHT AT THE GREGORY SCHOOL UNTIL SHE MARRIED RAILROAD PORTER TONY COLBERT.
FORBIDDEN TO TEACH SCHOOL IN HOUSTON AS A MARRIED WOMAN, SHE AND HER HUSBAND MOVED TO DAYTON WHERE ANNIE ACCEPTED A POSITION AT A ONE-ROOM SHACK. UPON ARRIVAL, SHE GATHERED HER STUDENTS AND, TOGETHER, THEY BUILT AN IMPROVED ONE-ROOM FRAME SCHOOLHOUSE NEAR LUKE AND PRATER STREETS. MRS. COLBERT CONTINUED TO TEACH THE AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS OF DAYTON UNTIL 1918, INSTILLING THE VALUE OF EDUCATION IN HER STUDENTS AND WITHIN THE COMMUNITY.
IN 1918, THE AFRICAN AMERICAN SCHOOL RELOCATED TO A SITE NEAR THE ST. PAUL AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH UNTIL 1927, WHEN THE SCHOOL DISTRICT BUILT THE DAYTON COLORED SCHOOL. SADLY, IT BURNED IN 1929. THAT SAME YEAR, THE SCHOOL DISTRICT AND COMMUNITY PARTNERED WITH THE ROSENWALD SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM TO CONSTRUCT A SCHOOL FOR THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY. THE NEW FOUR-ROOM ROSENWALD SCHOOL WAS DEDICATED IN 1934 AND NAMED IN HONOR OF ANNIE COLBERT, A PIONEER IN AFRICAN AMERICAN EDUCATION IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS.
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