E. a. Armstrong
"Professor" Armstrong paved the way for black students
Biography
Eugene A. Armstrong was barely 32 years old when the first and only rural high school for blacks in Cumberland County was name in his honor. The year was 1939 and Armstrong had only been the principal of the former Cumberland County Training School since it opened just four years earlier. His school namesake still lives on in the Eastover community: E. A. Armstrong Elementary School. That's the kind of impression "Professor" Armstrong left among his colleagues, his congregations, customers and friends.
Armstrong was a teacher, principal, minister and businessman. He was also a key in improving schools for blacks before segregation with his one-year success in winning accreditation for the former Chestnut High School in 1940. Armstrong died on July 2, 1981, but his name carries on.
He taught in schools and ministered in pulpits in Cumberland County, Sanford, Franklin and Wilmington. Armstrong was short and round, almost five by five. He was proud but not arrogant, poetic with a remarkable memory, an eloquent public speaker, humorous and always, always upbeat. His memory was almost perfect. He thought of himself as a shepherd and his students were little lambs. Even though Armstrong could calculate endless streams of numbers in conversation, he preferred to teach English.
Armstrong was a man who was respected wherever he went. In Franklin, they looked feverishly for a principal before Armstrong arrived. Everybody was enthralled with the idea of hiring Armstrong. He died in Franklin.
Before Armstrong and his wife, the late Mary Ellen Shepard Armstrong, left Cumberland County, his name appeared in print for his work with the American Red Cross, his partnership in the Armstrong [P]alm Garden Shop, as a science instructor at E[E] Smith High School, a member of Evans Metropolitan AM.E. Zion Church, minister and guest speaker at several churches, school music and choral director, assistant principal, principal and partner with The Great Southern Cooperative, a reduced-price retail partnership.
background
Armstrong was born on May 14, 1907, the son of Chas and Sarah Armstrong. His siblings were the late Charles Armstrong and Alice Evans.
He graduated from the predecessor of E.E. Smith High School before going on to graduate from State Normal School (Fayetteville State University) in 1922 as the valedictorian of his class. He didn't stop there. He graduated magna cum laude from Johnson C Smith University in 1926 and later earned a degree in administration and supervision of schools from Columbia University.
People who knew him here said he sounded like a "Philadelphia lawyer" when he spoke. He got the nickname "Little Army, " because of his size. He never said no to anything. He lived on Murchinson Road. He kept his strong will and desire to teach and minister until he died in 1981 at the age of 74.
At the time of his death, he was pastor of Corner Rock A.M&E. Zion Church in Clayton Georgia, and pastor of Ray's Chapel A.M.F Zion Church in Franklin. His funeral was held at the church he loved, the historic Evans Metropolitan A. M. E. Zion Church. He was buried in Northside Cemetery.
This article was originally published in The Fayetteville Observer
Sunday, February 17, 2002
Daisy Maxwell contributed research for this article
Staff writer Stacy Peterson can be reached at 486-3512
