Booker schools show their pride

Students and staff from Emma E. Booker Elementary, Booker Middle and Booker High joined forces on Nov. 4 to honor their collective history. The group travelled to Lincoln Cemetery in Gulfport, near St. Petersburg, to clean up the gravesite of Emma E. Booker, the pioneer educator for which the three schools are named.

Booker founded Sarasota's first school for black students, Sarasota Grammar School, in 1910. Booker High School Principal Rachel Shelley visited the site in October. 

“My heart was broken when I went to visit Emma E. Booker’s gravesite,” Shelley said. “I decided to do something, but I knew I needed help to get it done.”