Celebrating the History of Moton High School

Founded in the 1870s, Moton High School was the first educational institution for black students in Hernando County. Moton was closed following integration in 1969, but the campus has served as an elementary school and is currently the home of Best Academy, a charter middle school.

With Moton High’s closure, all of the records regarding the school were lost. This tragic loss of history had to be rectified. It has been the goal of John Mobley (President of the Moton High School Preservation Society and class of 1967 member) to hunt down the school’s history and create a library to celebrate it.

“If I didn’t preserve it now, this history would be lost,” Mobley said. “I made it my mission to record the history of this school.”

Years ago, the Moton High School Reunion Association began hosting multi-day annual reunions for alumni across the span of a weekend. It began with a meet-and-greet on a Friday, a banquet on Saturday, and finally, a church service on Sunday.

While these have been fantastic experiences for former students, Mobley wanted to do more to ensure the school’s unique stories were saved. The purpose of his organization is to preserve the institution’s history for future generations, after all. Without the work of the preservation society, Brooksvillians of all skin colors would be deprived of critical knowledge of the city’s past.

With no community center or park nearby, Moton High School became a focal point for all manner of events. “This was the center of the black community,” said Mobley. “It was more than just a school.” It would be devastating to lose such history.

This resulted in him embarking on what he called a “one-man crusade to build a Moton Library that would show the value of this school to the black community, Brooksville, and the world.”

The preservation society’s president was concerned there might be some resistance to his campaign, but he was pleased to discover that organizations such as YouThrive (formerly Mid-Florida Community Services) agreed that this effort was long past due.

It was fortunate that YouThrive was so supportive of Mobley’s vision, considering they own the campus. As a result, they supplied him with the cafeteria to proudly display Moton’s history. YouThrive was instrumental in getting this endeavor off the ground.

The organization even compensated Mobley for some of the expenses he incurred in creating the displays. This will then allow the Preservation Society president to reinvest in even more projects honoring the school’s past.

Naturally, Mary Sheldon, the president of the Hernando Historical Museum Association, was involved with the project as well. She would prove to be a key figure by providing advice regarding the exhibits.

Despite little to no money, he set about trying to track down the lost information. Fortunately, his search bore fruit, and he was able to secure contributions from community members such as Mrs. Francis Sesler.

Thanks in part to the former students’ memories and a treasure trove of information from Ms. Hazel Land, Mobley and company tracked down the names of former faculty members and students who went on to become sports stars or even judges following their time at Moton.

The Bulldogs had several athletes who gained recognition, including two-time Super Bowl Champion Defensive Tackle Maulty Moore (with the Miami Dolphins) and Matilda “Tillie” Warren.

The Moton basketball star was described as “the best to ever play at Moton” by one of the plaques created by Mobley’s organization. Warren was also inducted into the Hernando High Sports Hall of Fame last year for her accomplishments in basketball and softball (1959).

With the combined cost of the various exhibits not being cheap, Mobley notes any possible donations would be increasingly helpful and needed.
In the future, Mobley hopes to acquire a permanently mounted sign for the high school and add weatherproof exhibits on the outside walls of the school so parents can learn more about black Brooksville history while they wait to pick up their children from Head Start.

Mobley hopes that his 12 years at Moton, the experience of other “Motonians,” and visits to the Brooksville Museum will help him to “create something worthy of people coming out to see” and “to let people know that this nameless facility was once the home of Moton High School and the Bulldogs.”