A student cleanup project at Beulah Cemetery a year ago has turned into a history lesson and tribute to a former Vicksburg educator.

Students at Vicksburg High have traveled back in time to get to know Rosa A. Temple, who died in 1972 at the age of 102.

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A tribute to Rosa A. Temple will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Vicksburg Junior High on Baldwin Ferry Road. A wreath-laying ceremony at Cedar Hill Cemetery will follow.

“It all started because the students adopted Beulah Cemetery as a project under Project IMAGE,” said VHS assistant principal and project leader Dr. Josephine Calloway. “It’s a community outreach project where we get students involved in our community.”

As the students were clearing brush at the 125-year-old cemetery on Martin Luther King Boulevard, Calloway said, they began to wonder about the graves and the people. In the process, it was discovered that Temple, who had a school named after her, was actually buried at the city’s cemetery, Cedar Hill.

“We restored Beulah to key in on key people here in Vicksburg,” Calloway said. “Rosa A. Temple was one of the prominent educators in Vicksburg.”

A couple of months ago, students from Jenny Drake’s English class, Cedric Tillman’s videography class and the school’s history club teamed up with the Rosa A. Temple committee, comprised of alumni and former faculty of Rosa A. Temple High, to develop a project to honor the former educator.

The project will culminate with a tribute to Temple, set for 2 p.m. Saturday at Vicksburg Junior High, the site of the former Rosa A. Temple High. The school was named for the educator in 1959. It was in operation until 1971, when schools were merged for desegregation.

To get to know Temple, three of Drake’s students — seniors Tira Erwin and Danielle Thomas and junior Shabaz Brown — located and interviewed former teachers, administrators and students.

“I’m learning a lot,” said Tira. ���I’m glad I was chosen to do the interview.”

“I tell them about the pride we had,” said Drake, a Temple grad. “It was the absolute commitment to being the best. The teachers always emphasized learning.”

Interviews were videotaped and will be shown during Saturday’s tribute. Among the former teachers interviewed was Theresa Williams, 91.

“I just enjoyed teaching,” she said, “mathematics was my favorite. I say all the time, (teaching) meant more to me than the money they didn’t give us,” she said with a laugh. “Education at Temple was special. The teachers took time out to teach the students. You walked in there to get your lessons, not to play.”

Saturday’s tribute will also feature a wreath-laying ceremony at Temple’s grave.

“We’re bridging the gap between past and now,” Calloway said.

Temple was born Sept. 4, 1869. She attended Cherry Street High School and Jackson College. She began teaching in 1885 and continued for more than 60 years, before retiring in 1947.

A mural at City Front downtown features Rosa A. Temple High School.

Contact Manivanh Chanprasith at mchan@vicksburgpost.com