LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — Gwinnett County’s only public school for Black students from decades ago reopened Monday as the region’s first themed library, ending a years-long preservation fight led by former students who refused to let their history disappear.
The Hooper-Renwick Themed Library in Lawrenceville combines modern library services with exhibits that preserve the legacy of a school that served African American children from 1951 until integration in 1968.
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“Very overwhelming, very emotional,” said Coni Brown, who attended the school as a child and now chairs the Legacy Preservation Committee that saved the building.
Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson learned the $20.5 million project transforms 27,000 square feet where segregation once divided into a place where all children can learn together. Original elements, like the gymnasium floor and twenty restored windows, preserve the building’s history.
“In this place, we felt love. There was love from the teachers. It matters to a child how they’re taught,” said Joanne Malone, who grew up across the street and attended as a child.
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Brown and other former students spent years collecting memories, photographs and artifacts from an era when Black children had nowhere else to learn in Gwinnett County.
“You want your children and children’s children to know where they came from,” Brown said.
The library blends modern amenities with carefully preserved history. Visitors can check out books just steps away from photographs of students who attended the school when the law said they couldn’t go anywhere else.
The preservation ensures future generations will understand their heritage.
“My grandchildren, my children, will be able to look upon this and say, my grandmother had a hand in this,” Malone said.
The library opened to the public on Monday on Neal Boulevard in Lawrenceville.
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