The original Pleasant Plains Indian School was built in 1866 by ten men, some of the available names are listed: Lawrence Weaver, Dukie (Marmaduke) Hall, Willis Weaver, William Jones, Jesse Keene and James Reynolds.
D. W. Newsome was the first teacher in 1866
National Register of Historic Places Registration.
In 1920 a new Pleasant Plains Indian School was built to replace the original school that was built in 1866. This new school was the second Rosenwald-funded school built in Hertford County.
National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
Pleasant Plains School
Class Photo
Pleasant Plains School
Class Photo 1938-1939
In 1949 the Pleasant Plains School closed down. The school was operated by the ancestors of present-day Meherrin Nation members. No slaves or descendants of slaves were permitted to attend for fear that they would learn to read and write. According to oral history, there was a “comb test” to determine eligibility, and there were a few white students, who were from Indian families, and were “Indian” or “Mulatto” on paper. This was an effort at self-determination- Indian families having a say in the education of their own children. The Pleasant Plains Indian School is not to be confused with the C.S. Brown School. In attendance were members of the Bizzell, Boon, Brown, Collins, Flood, Hall, Hunter, Lewis, Manley, Reid, Reynolds, and Weaver families, etc; ancestors of enrolled Meherrin Tribal members. The Pleasant Plains School operated for a number of years across the street from the Pleasant Plains Church.
The Pleasant Plains Indian School is registered as a National Historic Place with the United States Department of Interior – Nation Park Service for its local educational importance as the only graded public school that served both local African American and Native American students in the Pleasant Plains community of Winton, North Carolina from 1920 to 1949.
