Our Namesake

Except from an editorial in the The Bradenton Herald, February 8, 1997:

Carlos Earl Haile

He was known as Mr. Haile, an exacting man, an educated man, a scholar, a disciplinarian, a humanitarian, a mentor, friend, and most of all, a courageous man who fought for equal opportunities for all Manatee County students, regardless of color. The lives he touched were many.

During his 33-year tenure as teacher, assistant principal and finally principal of all-black Lincoln High School, Mr. Haile knew first-hand the hardships of neglect a segregated school system imposed. But he also knew first-hand the wonderful support that parents provided to make up the gap an unfair system thrust upon their children.

Some people are born teachers. The ability to inspire and influence the young comes as second nature to them. They know how to motivate, to awaken curiosity, to nurture students so they see beyond their limitations to the potential of what they may become.

Carlos Earl Haile was such a man.

His Life

His beginnings were humble. The son of a farmer, Mr. Haile came from a family that believed in education. His sister and brother-in-law were already teaching in Manatee County when Mr. Haile arrived in 1930 from Alachua County, FL, to accept a post at Lincoln High School as a math instructor.

Today, going to college is commonplace. But in Mr. Haile's time, on the eve of the Great Depression, going to college was a challenge of the highest order and earning a degree a mark of highest distinction.

Mr. Haile earned two before coming to Manatee county to teach. His bachelor's degree from Clark University and master's degree from Atlanta University were the products of hard work and family sacrifice, money earned from his parents' farm store and pay received from his student job as a clerk in the dean's office.

Despite the shortcomings in those days of separate and unequal schools, Lincoln Memorial High School had a resource beyond measure that was theirs alone - a gentleman and scholar by the name of Mr. Haile who set such fine examples for the young.

Carlos E. Haile Middle School was dedicated on August 16, 1997.