The Abbeville Colored School was built in 1950 as part of Mississippi's school equalization program, under which new schools were built for Black students to forestall integration. Half of the funding for the original four-classroom building was raised by the local Black community. In 1960, Gordon Elementary School was constructed for grades one through six, and a third building for grades nine through twelve was erected in the early 1960s. Following integration, Abbeville's Black students were bused to former all-White schools.