17-05-2025
Park Hill opens school named after formerly enslaved educator Angeline Washington
Park Hill School District welcomed the community to view the district's newest addition, Angeline Washington Elementary, opening this fall.
The new school is named after a woman from the Parkville area who was enslaved by George Park, for whom Park University is named. Located at 6600 Brush Creek Pkwy, the school was supported by a bond issue that Parkville residents approved in 2022. It is the first school in the district to be named after a woman.
The evening kicked off with remarks from Mike Kimbrel, the superintendent of Park Hill School District, who acknowledged Washington's complex history in Parkville.
'One of our strategic objectives in Park Hill is to ensure a sense of belonging,' Kimbrel said. 'The question in my mind was, 'How in the world could Angeline Washington have felt like she belonged?' But she stayed. She stayed to create a sense of belonging.'
As the district was getting ready for the groundbreaking, Kimbrel said he and his wife took a walking trip. One of the first stops was Old Parkville Cemetery, where members of the Washington family are buried.
Washington was born in 1837 and died in 1904. Her grave remains unmarked, although some of her children's and grandchildren's graves are marked. She was known for staying in Parkville and continuing to teach other Black people after she was freed. Although it was illegal for Black people to be married, she was still able to marry her husband, William.
Kimbrel said he and his wife walked to the grave sites, wondering which was where Washington was laid to rest.
'The naming committee wanted to express the story of Angeline through this perspective,' he said. 'The perspective of her life as an enslaved woman to a freed woman who married, owned land, had children, pioneered educational and religious opportunity, and bonded a community.'
Daryl Terwilleger, the school board president for Park Hill District, urged people to reflect on the past and the present being blended through the naming of the school and restoration projects throughout the city, such as the Banneker School, where African Americans were educated in the early 1900s.
'The future where 121 years after her death, a new chapter begins,' Terwilleger said. 'For decades to come, this school — bearing her name — will stand as a beacon of hope, learning and remembrance.'
The principal of Angeline Washington Elementary, Vanna Easley, also spoke on behalf of the school.
