The new Frank Hebron-Harman Elementary School bears the name of the man who attended, taught at, then led the school for the community's black students.

Since the $18 million building opened last spring in Hanover, however, his survivors have wondered if the schoolchildren inside know enough about the man who guided their predecessors through decades of segregation.

Hebron's relatives, who led the effort to have the school named for Hebron, commissioned a mural about the school's heritage, and it will be unveiled today in the lobby, for all to see every day.

"We wanted a lasting memorial for the children," said niece Patricia Hebron-Handy. "The students now, they didn't know him. They don't know the significance of it, the history behind it."

Hebron started his education at the old Harman Elementary, a three-room Rosenwald schoolhouse for black students funded by Sears Roebuck executive Julius Rosenwald and built on Dorsey Road, where St. Mark's United Methodist Church now stands. It had no indoor plumbing, and students each morning had to light a potbelly stove for heat.

Hebron returned after graduate school to teach at Harman and became its principal in 1955, when it consolidated with other local black schools and moved to its present site on Ridge Chapel Road.

Nephew Frederick Hebron attended that school and remembers his uncle as a tough but fair administrator who "did not spare the rod" for unruly students but also loved joining in when students sang or played sports.

Hebron went on to serve for 14 years as supervisor of the system's elementary schools shortly after they integrated. He retired in 1978 and died in 2001.

Current faculty members describe a school that is "way different from Mr. Hebron's time," not only because of the new building with its classroom laptops, nurse's office "suite" and array of security cameras, but also because of the level of diversity.

"We're like a big melting pot, we have kids from all economic backgrounds," said Assistant Principal Jesse Mitchell.

The population of 530 students is "growing fast," he said, as the developing area around the Arundel Mills mall attracts more families. Mitchell said the mural will enable staff members to pause and discuss the school's past with students.

The 3-by-6-foot mural features Hebron's portrait surrounded by the school's three incarnations.

It was created by Jessup artist Cisco Davis, who was hired for an undisclosed sum by the Hebron family, including Frank Hebron's widow, Irene, and the descendants of his 12 siblings. They raised money among themselves, receiving "moral support" from the North Anne Arundel African-American Historical Society and St. Mark's United Methodist Church.

Davis spent months bringing small photographs to life on the canvas, painstakingly painting the bricks from the new building's facade. He described the work as his own contribution to the community and said he jumped at the opportunity to celebrate a prominent local African-American.

"The project itself, I could not pass up," he said.

A copy of the work is on display at BWI Marshall Airport as part of larger exhibit about black history in Anne Arundel County.

At today's unveiling of the original, several members of the family will speak, along with schools Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell, school board member Eugene Peterson and faculty members.

Hebron-Handy said her uncle would have loved the honor.

"He would have been so proud. He loved life and he loved children," she said.

david.zenlea@baltsun.com