CONTENT WARNING
Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; and gender and sexual orientation.
Context
Virginia did not have a statewide system of public schools until after the Civil War. Before this, private academies and common schools were all that existed, but the Virginia General Assembly did authorize a “literary fund” that supplied counties with a limited amount of funding to educate white children whose parents could not afford to do so. For many Virginians, education was illegal because providing instruction to African Americans, whether slave or free, violated the law.
During the convention that met in 1867–1868 to write a new state constitution, Black and white delegates authorized the creation of a public school system. One of the delegates was John Robinson, a free Black entrepreneur before the Civil War who rose to prominence in Cumberland and Amelia Counties as a landowner, enslaver, and tradesman. Elected to the State Senate in 1869, he served on the Committee on Public Institutions, which wrote the law establishing the new school system. Despite the protests of Black legislators, the law required that the public schools be racially segregated.
For decades, schools for Black students were funded at a far lower rate than those for white students. Black parents often had to raise money themselves to acquire land, build schools, and pay teachers. As was the case in many other counties in Virginia, Black students in Amelia County did not have a school to attend after the elementary grades. In the 1920s, the county's Board of Education instituted a Training School for Black students in grades one through nine, but the school operated for only a few years. It was not until 1933 that Black students in Amelia County could attend high school.
These newspaper articles published in the Southside Virginia News and the Richmond Times-Dispatch describe the efforts by Amelia County’s Black community to open a high school for their children, which included purchasing the land and paying for part of the building's construction. Classes first met at Russell Grove Presbyterian Church, and in 1935 the Russell Grove High School building was completed. It was not until 1969 that Russell Grove desegregated.
John Robinson's family exemplified his belief in the importance of education. His son John W. Robinson was an advocate for establishing a high school for Black students. His daughter-in-law Lettie Robinson used her own car to transport students and is recognized Russell Grove's first bus driver. The first graduating class in 1937 included John and Lettie's daughter, Sarah (Sallie) Courtny Robinson, who was the school’s first valedictorian, as well as Lettie Robinson's granddaughter, Virginia Walton, who later became a teacher.
Citations: "26 Negroes Finish Amelia High School," Virginia Southside News, May 20, 1937, Library of Virginia, online at Virginia Chronicle. and "Woman Still Makes Quilts as her Grandmother Did," Richmond Times-Dispatch, Dec. 28, 1955.
Related Document Bank entry:
Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction, Teacher Census Except, 1930
Learn more about John Robinson in his Dictionary of Virginia Biography entry online at Encyclopedia Virginia.
Learn more about the Establishment of the Public School System in Virginia at Encyclopedia Virginia.
During the convention that met in 1867–1868 to write a new state constitution, Black and white delegates authorized the creation of a public school system. One of the delegates was John Robinson, a free Black entrepreneur before the Civil War who rose to prominence in Cumberland and Amelia Counties as a landowner, enslaver, and tradesman. Elected to the State Senate in 1869, he served on the Committee on Public Institutions, which wrote the law establishing the new school system. Despite the protests of Black legislators, the law required that the public schools be racially segregated.
For decades, schools for Black students were funded at a far lower rate than those for white students. Black parents often had to raise money themselves to acquire land, build schools, and pay teachers. As was the case in many other counties in Virginia, Black students in Amelia County did not have a school to attend after the elementary grades. In the 1920s, the county's Board of Education instituted a Training School for Black students in grades one through nine, but the school operated for only a few years. It was not until 1933 that Black students in Amelia County could attend high school.
These newspaper articles published in the Southside Virginia News and the Richmond Times-Dispatch describe the efforts by Amelia County’s Black community to open a high school for their children, which included purchasing the land and paying for part of the building's construction. Classes first met at Russell Grove Presbyterian Church, and in 1935 the Russell Grove High School building was completed. It was not until 1969 that Russell Grove desegregated.
John Robinson's family exemplified his belief in the importance of education. His son John W. Robinson was an advocate for establishing a high school for Black students. His daughter-in-law Lettie Robinson used her own car to transport students and is recognized Russell Grove's first bus driver. The first graduating class in 1937 included John and Lettie's daughter, Sarah (Sallie) Courtny Robinson, who was the school’s first valedictorian, as well as Lettie Robinson's granddaughter, Virginia Walton, who later became a teacher.
Citations: "26 Negroes Finish Amelia High School," Virginia Southside News, May 20, 1937, Library of Virginia, online at Virginia Chronicle. and "Woman Still Makes Quilts as her Grandmother Did," Richmond Times-Dispatch, Dec. 28, 1955.
Related Document Bank entry:
Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction, Teacher Census Except, 1930
Learn more about John Robinson in his Dictionary of Virginia Biography entry online at Encyclopedia Virginia.
Learn more about the Establishment of the Public School System in Virginia at Encyclopedia Virginia.
Standards
VS.7, VS.8, USII.2, USII.3, VUS.9, VUS.10
Suggested Questions
Preview Activity
Scan it: Scan the articles for numbers. What information stands out to you? Why?
Post Activities
Think about it: The amount of money raised by the Black community may not seem like much today, but go to the Measuring Worth website and plug in the dollar amounts mentioned in the articles. The purchasing power of the amount in today's dollars is rendered in several ways, including "as spent on a construction project." What is the equivalent cost for the amount that you entered? How do you think the Black community raised that amount of money? How much of an undertaking would that have been? What do you think the county was doing with the tax money paid by these families?
Dig Deeper: Read about the creation of the Jeanes Teachers program in the Dictionary of Virginia Biography entry of J. H. Dillard online at Encyclopedia Virginia. What was the program's connection with Virginia? How important do you think the Jeanes program was to the Black community in Amelia County, and why? How can you gauge the impact of the program on Black communities across the state?
Scan it: Scan the articles for numbers. What information stands out to you? Why?
Post Activities
Think about it: The amount of money raised by the Black community may not seem like much today, but go to the Measuring Worth website and plug in the dollar amounts mentioned in the articles. The purchasing power of the amount in today's dollars is rendered in several ways, including "as spent on a construction project." What is the equivalent cost for the amount that you entered? How do you think the Black community raised that amount of money? How much of an undertaking would that have been? What do you think the county was doing with the tax money paid by these families?
Dig Deeper: Read about the creation of the Jeanes Teachers program in the Dictionary of Virginia Biography entry of J. H. Dillard online at Encyclopedia Virginia. What was the program's connection with Virginia? How important do you think the Jeanes program was to the Black community in Amelia County, and why? How can you gauge the impact of the program on Black communities across the state?