Hallelujah, what a heritage

Milam County Historical Commission
Milam County, Texas

Hallelujah, what a Heritage

Reporter/Mike Brown

Rockdale Reporter - 2016-04-28

But not every town has Susie Sansom-Piper in its heritage. Rockdale does.

The former educator, who still writes an annual Black History Month series for The

Reporter, started her luncheon speech at Sho� Nuff Soul Food Friday by raising her arms

heavenward and giving thanks.

�On this spot, my grandfather (Paul Moultry) operated a blacksmith shop before Rockdale

became a town,� she said. �This is hallowed ground.�

�CROWN OF STARS�� Mrs. Piper�s speech was part of Rockdale�s Heritage Days. (Also see

photos pages 1-2B, 4-6B and 2D. )

Now a resident of Austin, Mrs. Piper had some glowing words for her home town, praising

Rockdale for avoiding much of the racial strife which accompanied school desegregation in

the 1960s.

�I don�t think there were any fights,� she said. �If anyone said anything ugly I guess

they didn�t want it to be heard.�

�Rockdale, you�ve got stars in you crown,� she said.

Mrs. Piper was the last principal of Aycock High School, the town�s school for African-

Americans.

Piper said in many ways the spirit of unity in the Rockdale area was the continuation of

its history.

�I have never heard of the slavery issue in this vicinity,� she said. �For the slave

cutoff place was said to be in the Gause-Hearne area.�

�Blacks have lived in every segment of Rockdale,� she said. �Every segment that is

available for our finances.�

Of course many injustices took decades to be dropped. �We remember the Dixie Theatre,

located where Citizens Bank is today,� she said. �We had to sit upstairs in the balcony.

Restrooms were not available. If you had a necessity you had to pay again to get back in

the theatre.�

Mrs. Piper recalled the locally famous Dinky train which ran on the San Antonio & Aransas

Pass (SA&AP) line.

�We had another train that gave a straight ride into San Antonio,� she said. �To ride

either train you sat in the car that was next to the engine and inhaled the smoke from

the engine.�

�GREATEST �� Mrs. Piper noted the community�s pride in the former Aycock school, which

still manifests itself a half century after the school closed its doors.

�Aycock was the greatest school that�s ever been in Texas,� she said. �It has always been

noted for producing high quality into the work world. And this began when Aycock only had

three or four teachers.�

�Our heritage continues, for we have wholesome church organizations, a religion school

and a cooperative spirit in our town,� she said.

HERITAGE � Mrs. Piper ended by talking about the concept of heritage, in observance of

the weekend�s theme.

�I admonish you to jot down all of the past significant things that you have

accomplished,� she said.

�This is your heritage and a heritage for your children and those to follow.�

�If Prof Wilhite (Aycock�s) former principal were here today, he would say �thank you,

Rockdale, for continuously stressing the necessity of working together for a better

world�,� she said.

Mrs. Piper concluded: �But since I am here, I will just say�Thank you Rockdale, and keep

up the good works.�

94-year-old Susie Sansom Piper gives

thanks for the �hallowed ground� on

which she gave her Friday speech,

once site of her grandfather�s

blacksmith shop.

Susie Sansom Piper�s

speech Friday

concluded with a

spontaneous standing

ovation by crowd at

Sho-Nuff.

All Credit for this article
goes to Mike Brown and the
Rockdale Reporter