KENNARD HIGH SCHOOL

History of Kennard High School

Bailey Baughn

Chesapeake College

April 14, 2020

KENNARD HIGH SCHOOL

History of Kennard High School

410 Little Kidwell located in Centreville, Maryland, is home to a historic educational site.

This location is now home to the Kennard African American Cultural Heritage Center, which

was once also known as Kennard High School. This building dates back to 1936, construction

was finished and it opened as the first black high school in Centreville. Kennard High School not

only carries a lot of history with it, it is now a place that holds a committed mission to providing

resources to all, especially minorities and low income populations within the community.

In 1903 Lucretia Kennard, moved to the Eastern Shore from Philadelphia. During this

time frame, schools were segregated by race and black schools were poorly funded, if they even

existed. Teachers were hard to find especially because the teacher salary was $25 per school

year. Lucretia understood the value of education and saw the potential students had to learn and

succeed. In 1907, Kennard was appointed to the “Supervisor of Colored Schools” in Caroline

County and then in 1919 appointed to the “Supervisor of Colored Schools” in Queen Anne’s

County. She was determined to establish a black high school, because the only school close to

this was, the “Centreville Colored Industrial High School”, which was nothing compared to the

way white high schools were run. There were never enough supplies and the textbooks that were

used were discarded from white schools. Lucretia, eventually found teachers to work, set a

curriculum, and set goals for the students that would be in her school. She got in touch with local

black citizens, who all worked together to raise money to buy property to build the high school,

costing $2600. Unfortunately, Lucretia died before the school was constructed in 1933.
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Centreville’s high school for blacks opened in 1936 and was named Kennard High

School. If you are familiar with Centreville and it’s schools, you can identify this building as the

wooden shingled building across from what is today, Kennard Elementary School. Before

schools in the United States were racially integrated, “separate but equal” was established in

Maryland, which led to the new portion of Kennard High School, which was constructed in

1951. This high school had no kitchen or cafeteria. Lunches were made in the home economics

classroom. Eventually, several years later additions were made to the brick building that we

know as Kennard Elementary School. In 1960, Queen Anne’s County had 4 high schools

established. 3 white high schools and 1 black high school. Centreville High School was what is

now the Board of Education in Centreville, Sudlersville High School is now Sudlersville Middle

School, and Stevensville High School is now a portion of Stevensville Middle School. In 1966,

the new Queen Anne’s County High School opened and at this time it was acceptable for schools

to become racially integrated. Construction of this new high school ended up being delayed.

Because part of the school was done, half of the students that attended QACHS spent the day at

the new building learning science and vocational skills. The other half attended Kennard High

School in either the brick building portion or the wooden building. This only lasted a year until

the building was officially finished and there was room for all students to learn together.

After all the high school students started attending Queen Anne’s County High School,

Kennard High School turned in to Kennard Intermediate School. This school was then home to

fourth, fifth, and sixth grade. This lasted from 1975 until 1979, when the new middle school

opened. When the middle school opened it took Kennard’s fifth and sixth grade students and
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combined them with Centreville Middle School's seventh and eighth grade students. After this,

Kennard became the Kennard Annex of QACHS, specifically just for 9th grade students.

The old high school building was leased to the alumni association by the county

commision in 1996. It stayed vacant for 40 years until it’s reconstruction in 2010. In 2012, the

Kennard Alumni Association purchased the school and the property for $1, to become the sole

owners. This is when they renamed the building to the Kennard African American Cultural

Heritage Center (KAACHC).

The KAACHC today is still managed by the Kennard Alumni Association. This center is

known for its African American History programs and events. Part of the KAACHC, is home to

the African American History Museum. The museum provides an “innovative 1500 sq. ft. exhibit

utilizing a wide variety of interpretive methodologies, including a period classroom display to

mimic the original setting, recorded audio/video histories of school attendees and community

members, thematic panels with both text and visual images, display cases of original artifacts

including materials such as occupational items, school memorabilia and military

clothing/equipment.” It is open during all KAACHC programs and events as well as the first

saturday of each month May thru October. The center also hosts special events. A few of the

most popular events held are the annual picnic and celebration, the annual walkathon, the fashion

show with raffle/auction, the annual fish fry, and the Kennard Alumni Association scholarship

awards. All events can be found on their website. The center also can be rented out and used for

personal events. It can accommodate up to 104 people. The rental space also includes a kitchen!

They also currently offer after school mentoring programs for middle school students, exercise

classes, and host a special needs youth summer camp. The KAACHC made their goal to become
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an asset of Queen Anne’s County and provide citizens within the community educational and

cultural learning experiences. It is estimated that over 2500 youth and adults will be served

annually by the programs that the center has to offer. “​We strive to be a stepping stone for youth

in our community and to engage them to continue this proud heritage through programs in

education and cultural arts and through scholarship assistance. With the help of our members and

the community at large, our goal is to enable the old high school site to be a learning resource for

generations to come.” (KAACHC).

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Resources

Kennard African American Cultural Heritage Center. ​About the KAACHC​.

https://kennardheritage.com/about-kaachc/

Historic Sites Consortium of Queen Anne’s County. ​Old Kennard High School.

https://www.historicqac.org/historic-site/old-kennard-high-school/