Lamson Richardson 

Lamson Richardson was established in 1886 and was founded by Anna Wade Richardson, born March 18, 1862, in the year of the Civil War. Marshallville was the market-town for the prosperous plantations which was her birth place. She was the child of slave parents Charles and Julia Wade. Her father was a carpenter and her mother, after freedom, continued to work as a cook for the Wade family and the family's owners. With the help of her stable background, the good will of her mother's employer and the support of her teacher in the one-room, ungraded rural school, she was selected at age 13 to attend Atlanta  University, then a missionary supported school in the state capital. She left home at an early age with $36, willing hands and a grateful heart. The university, at the time , was stressing elementary and secondary education in order to lift the greatest number of applicants to the literacy level. Anna had a great deal to learn in addition to her academic work- table etiquette, langauge usage, social decorum and punctuality. From Boston, Anna returned to Marshallville then returned to Atlanta to complete her degree work. She graduated with the class of 1885. Lamson's first two buildings were financed by Kate Lamson and generous friends and opened in 1886.

Anna married Edward S. Richardson, who also became associated as an instructor with the school. In the first year, it was known as the Lamson School in honor of the benefactor who continued to extend her friendship to Anna; to solicit funds in the Boston area and to give practical aid to the school as long as the founder lived. The school was expanded to take boarding students with the aid of the American Missionary Society, promising young people from all over Middle Georgia. Many were recruited by Anna's husband, who traveled extensively as deputy collector of the Internal Revenue Service, a government appointment. After 28 years of devotion as a teacher and principal in the Lamson School, Anna's health gave way and she died at the age of 52 in 1915. With her passing, the school's affiliation with the American Missionary Society came to an end. After 60 years, the Richardson regime came to an end, also. Leading Lamson Richardson to its 110th birthday were 6 principals who worked faithfully throughout the years:  M.L. Solomon (1946-1947), K.H. Hankerson (1947-1948), Samuel Hollinshed (1948-1971),  Ernest Strawter (1971-1982), Willie J. Jackson (1982-1984) and Raymond Baker (1984-1996). Lamson Richardson closed its door in 1996 with 25 students in its graduating class. The students were:

Ricardo Allen
Shiletha Askew
Tanisha Brown
Latonya Bryant
Terrance Fields
Tavorous Freeman
Brian Harris
Melanna Harris
Shalada Jackson
Shamire Jackson
Derek James
Lakesha Knighton
Corey Livingston
Lawrence Mcghee
Tereka Mitchell
Renardo Rice
Lamar Robinson
Derrick Ross
Leontray Rucker
Terry Slappey
Shaquandra Smith
Tennille Warren
Rochita White
Vanessa Stinson

School Song

Dear Lamson-Richardson we love your hallowed walls,
We'll ever live to see your thrive, but ne'ver to see you fall;
We dedicate our lives to thee,
That coming youths may gladly see
The flame that still within thee glows
To light their ways to unknown shores.
O Lamson-Richardson My school, my own
May Lamson-Richardson forever hold a gleam,
May we e'ver be loyal to thy name
That brought to us much sacred fame.
We'll strive to hold the banner high
And keep it waving in the sky.
O Lamson-Richardson! My school, my own.


Written: Mrs. Evelyn Beauford Billings

Lamson Richardson's History Provided by: Tennille Warren