Harriet Tillman
Retired Teacher
(with granddaughter Taylor)
Plaquemine, La.

Recess at Old Dorseyville School Photograph courtesy of the Old Dorseyville School Restoration Committee

The Dorseyville School and the St. John Baptist Church are the center of attention for the residents of Dorseyville. They are people who are very grounded and rooted in their spiritual values. I attended the [Dorseyville] School with Miss Afreta T. Gant. Miss Gant was a native of Dorseyville and she also taught at the Dorseyville School. She was my first grade teacher. Many today say that I have a lot of her characteristics as far as trying to get things done. I just tell them what to do and they say they're going on to do it. Our daily activities at the School were from grades one through seven. Miss Gant taught all grades.

St. John Baptist Church

How she did it I don't know, because I taught in the public school system for thirty-one years, one class, one hour and I don't know how she did to manage seven grades in one lone country school. We cooked our lunch, and we had weeks to do this. One week we would cook the food, the next week we would wash the dishes. We took turns at this. She was a very highly organized person. She was a quiet person who went about doing her day's work in an orderly fashion. She would begin the day with a prayer. If not a prayer she would repeat one of the Psalms that says, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight o Lord, my strength and my redeemer."