St. Peter Claver Catholic School
St. Peter Claver Catholic School is a historic Black Catholic School, but it also has a growing Hispanic population. SPCCS has always been a school open and welcoming to all children of every race and creed and that continues to this day. The school is located in an important historic black neighborhood listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Our students and staff participated in an annual event in Macon called “On The Table Macon” that encourages the Macon community to talk about what is good, bad and indifferent in Macon. Our school wanted to bring some of the different cultures we have in our community together in a creative and fun way that would honor the Black ancestors of our neighborhood and school and engage our local community using the culture and expression of our Hispanic students.
The school received a grant to help make it happen and on November 12, 2021, the second annual Day of the Dead Celebration was celebrated in partnership with the Historic Linwood Cemetery of Pleasant Hill.
Everyone learned about four people buried there who had either connection to our school or to education. We celebrated Sgt. Rodney Davis, Macon’s only Medal of Honor Winner who attended our school. We also celebrated Mrs. Mattie Hubbard, who ran the public playground (now named after her) next to our school for decades. Our parish donated the land for the playground to the county and it became the first public playground for black children in Macon. We also celebrated L. H. Williams, who was principal of the Negro School for the Blind in our neighborhood (now closed) and for whom the local public elementary school close by is named. We celebrated Ruth Hartley Mosely, a successful business woman, public health nurse and educator. This was a fun event that made local history and some Hispanic culture real and fun for our students and for our local community.
