Moton High School
The original building that housed Moton High School on Port Street. Photo taken in 2010.
Moton High School was first opened in 1870 as the Easton Colored School. It was located on Port Street, and was the first black public school in Easton. On November 21, 1937, the school was Robert Russa Moton Junior/Senior High School, after Robert Russa Moton, an African-American author and educator from Virginia. The school remained here until 1953 when a new school was constructed on Glenwood Avenue. After the Brown v. Board of Education decision, Talbot County gave black students the option to attend formerly all white schools. Moton continued to serve as an all black high school until 1967, when Talbot County schools were fully integrated.
In 1804 the first black church in the Bay Hundred area – St. John’s Methodist Church — was built by John & Mary Kersey. In 1897 when all-white congregation at nearby Asbury Church moved to another church location, St. John’s moved into the vacated facility and the original church became the St. John’s parish house. In 1986, the 3 black congregations, St. James UMC of Sherwood, John Wesley UMC of McDaniel, and St. John’s UMC of Wittman, merged at St. John’s, and the church name was officially changed to New St. John’s United Methodist Church. More information can be found on their Facebook page.
A group photo of Principal and teachers. Photo from Hollyday Collection, 1950s-1960s.
These photos from the H. Robins Hollyday and Laird Wise photo collections are labelled as “Moton High School” but do not have labels identifying the people in the photos. If you recognize someone in one of these pictures please email collections@talbothistory.org, or call 410-822-0773. Please include the photographer name and photo number, which are in the captions below each photo, to help confirm which photo you are talking about.
