Archive: Education |

07000.ED – Students post in front of this unidentified early school. By February 13, 1877, there were 10 “colored” schools. On February 18, 1901, the West Virginia Legislature passed an act that provided primary public schools for African Americans from age 6 to 21. In 1921, when students were ready for high school and none was available in Jefferson County, the Board of Education paid tuition for seven pupils at Storer College.

07003.ED – Pictured here is a May Day celebration at Eagle Avenue School in Charles Town. The children might have been dancing around the May Pole which was an event that children across the country participated in. This was probably taken at the second Eagle Avenue Elementary School because the first closed in 1929 and it appears that this photo was taken in the 1950’s. The school closed at the end of the school year in 1966. On September 24, 1966 the school was destroyed by fire.

07004.ED – Annabelle Hosby is on the left and Gladys Walker is on the right in this picture. The photo probably dates from the 1950’s. Annabelle was a 1950 graduate and Gladys was a 1957 graduate of Page Jackson High School in Charles Town. Page Jackson was the only all black high school in Jefferson County. It closed in 1965 as a result of integration and loss of federal funding. The building today houses the Board of Education offices on Mordington Ave.

07005.ED – Pictured here is the Page Jackson High School band from the 1950’s.

07006.ED – Pictured here is a May Day celebration at Eagle Avenue School in Charles Town. The children might have been dancing around the May Pole which was an event that children across the country participated in at that time. This was probably taken at the second Eagle Avenue Elementary School because the first closed in 1929 and it appears that this photo was taken in the 1950’s. The school closed at the end of the school year in 1966. On September 24, 1966 the school was destroyed by fire.

07007.ED – Pictured in this photo is Alfred Baylor, Sr. Mr. Baylor was a vocational educational instructor who taught masonry to the students at the Harpers Ferry Job Corps Center on Job Corps Road in Harpers Ferry. This picture was taken around 1969. Alfred Baylor was a professional contractor in Jefferson County of bricklaying and carpentry who brought his professionalism to his classroom.

07008.ED – Students at Storer College, Harpers Ferry, WV; circa ?; [037] — This photo shows students at Storer College in Harpers Ferry, WV, in the early days. Storer College was founded as the first institution for educating freed slaves in the South. John Storer of Maine offered $10,000 as a donation to establish such a school if there was a matching donation from others, which was accomplished. Storer College began its noble task of educating Negroes with 19 students on October 2, 1867 with Rev. Brackett serving as principal. It was opened in the Lockwood House with that building serving as a dwelling house, school and church. It grew rapidly and only 2 years later, there were 96 students enrolled. It finally closed its doors in 1955.

07009.ED – Page Jackson High School Marching Band is pictured in the 1950’s. They are practicing some of their marching routines. Marching bands have been popular in high school, junior high schools and colleges for many years. John Philip Sousa is the best known name in American music. At the college level, some musicians base their choice of schools on both academics and the quality of the marching band. John Philip Sousa earned the name of “march king” because he composed so many marches.

07012.ED – Students learn life’s lessons both in and out of the classroom. Here are pictured students at Eagle Avenue School. These students helped during the Masonic Grand Lodge Session held here in the 1950’s, thereby teaching them that civic responsibility and responsible citizenship are required in an educational curriculum. Eagle Avenue School was located in Charles Town on Eagle Avenue. Mr. Philip Jackson was the principal. The building was destroyed by fire in 1966.

07013.ED – In the fall of 1938 Mr. Steward and 30 pupils began the first “negro” high school in Jefferson County, Page-Jackson High School. In 1951 PHJS was relocated to Mordington Avenue in the building which today houses the Board of Education offices. Taken during the 1940’s, this photo shows the teachers at Page Jackson High School. Front row, left to right are: Elsie Clinton, Yvonne Snowden, Cerelle Craven, Mildred Epps, and Goldye Johnson. Back row, left to right are: Irma Hall, Anne Watkins, Principal O. M. Stewart, Odetta Berry, and E. M. Dandridge.

07014.ED – Mrs. Goldye Kent Johnson stands with the students at Eagle Avenue School. Mrs. Johnson was the class sponsor. This group of students would later be the Class of 1954 at Page Jackson High School. Mrs. Johnson was also a teacher at Grandview Elementary School which would replace the Eagle Avenue School. Grandview School would close after the 1965 school year.

07016.ED – Students at Eagle Avenue Elementary School pose in front of the building. Ms. Lucy Saunders is standing in the back in the center, wearing a dark jacket. Eagle Avenue Elementary School which was a Charles Town Area school was replaced with the Charles Town District Colored School in 1929. Eagle Avenue Elementary School was located on the corner of Eagle Avenue and Harewood Avenue/Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. Saunders also taught in the Linwood School in Kearneysville Area School. Eventually, all of the black schools would close when desegregation was accomplished.

07017.ED – Students at the Myerstown Colored School with teacher Annie Watkins; taken around 1920; Jefferson County, WV; Annie left this school and eventually taught at Eagle Avenue Colored School. The first known school for Black students in Myerstown was built in 1875 on a lot purchased from Fisher A. Lewis. The building is no longer standing. Here Students at the Myerstown Colored School are pictured with teacher Annie Watkins. The photograph was taken around 1920 in Jefferson County, West Virginia. Annie Watkins left this school and later taught at Eagle Avenue Colored School in Charles Town. Eventually the school was sold to Charles Sim. The first known school for black student in Myerstown was built in 1875 on a lot purchased from Fisher A. Lewis. The building is no longer standing. Here students at the Myerstown Colored School are pictured with teacher Annie Watkins. The photo was taken around 1920 in Jefferson County, WV. Annie Watkins left this school and eventually taught at Eagle Avenue Colored School in Charles Town. Eventually the school was sold to Charles Sim.

07019.ED – Students pose in front of Eagle Avenue Elementary School. In the back is teacher Elsie Braxton Clinton. She also taught in Skeetersville Colored School (Duffields School) in the Shenandoah Junction area schools. Skeetersville School was a one room log structure in Duffields. The exact date the school opened is not known, but an article in the Spirit of Jefferson on March 17, 1882, stated that “the governor approved an act establishing the independent school district Duffields.” It closed in 1935 or 1936.

07022.ED – Duffield School is pictured in this 1919 photo. The woman standing is the teacher and the others are all students. …. This 1930’s photograph of Duffields School for black students shows teacher Elsie Clinton and her students. The school was also known as Skeetersville Colored School. The school was located in an area of Duffields known as Skeetersville. As a result, the school was also called Skeetersville Colored School. The exact opening date is not known — possibly 1930 when the Oak Grove School in Shenandoah Junction closed. Some of the teachers at this school included Elsie Clinton, John Harris, and Adora (or Dora) Payne. It was 1935 or 1936 when the school closed and students were transferred to Grandview School with the old building being sold to Mr. James Moten.

07023.ED – Students of Grand View Elementary School from Harpers Ferry, WV are pictured in this photo. They were on a field trip to Luray Caverns in VA in the 1950’s. They traveled by school bus. Grandview was one of the earliest black schools in the Harpers ferry District. Located in Bolivar on Ridge Street, it served black students for grades 1-8 and closed at the end of the 1965 school year. The last members of the faculty were: Principal Mr. Robert Nunn and 3 teachers Mr. Thomas Lee, Mrs. Ruby Reeler, Mrs. Betty Raylor and custodian Mr. Walter Fox.

07024.ED – Pictured here are the individual portraits of the students at Grandview Elementary School in the Harpers Ferry and Bolivar areas from the 1940’s. This four-room school closed at the end of 1965. Prior to Grandview School, students attended classes in a two room building on Ridge Street in Bolivar. When the school had outgrown that space, additional space in the basement of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church was rented for $10 a month. In 1930 Grandview School replaced those facilities until integration, at which time the Grandview building was used for 5th and 6th grades. Today the building is rented by the National Park Service. (108) Pictured are students at Grandview Elementary School in the Harpers Ferry and Bolivar areas from the 1940’s. This four-room school closed at the end of 1965. Prior to Grandview School, students attended classes in a two-room building on Ridge Street in Bolivar. When the school had outgrown those rooms, additional space in the basement of the Mount Zion Baptist Church was rented for $10 a month.

07025.ED – Mr. Philip Jackson is shown standing behind his students at the Charles Town District Colored School on Harewood Avenue, now Martin Luther King, Jr., Ave in Charles Town. The school was started in 1874 and continued to 1897. It was also called the First Eagle Avenue School. Mr. Philip Jackson was instrumental in the education of African-American children in the county. Page-Jackson High School was named after him and Mr. Page’s contributions. Exact date of this photo is unknown.

07026.ED – Shown in this 1930’s photo are students from Mechanicstown Colored School. The school closed in 1934. Mrs. Elsie Clinton was the teacher at the time it closed. It was built in 1891 on land which John Myers sold to the Charles Town District Board of Education. At the time of the closure, the teacher and the students were transferred to the Eagle Avenue School in Charles Town. The building still stands on privately owned property on Route 9 south.

07027.ED – This c. 1918 photograph shows the students at Rippon Colored School with teacher Mr. Charles Arter in the back of the center row. The first school in Rippon for black students was a one-room country school located near the railroad tracks, exact date unknown. In 1900, the white ‘Rippon School built in 1874 became the Black Rippon Colored School because the white students moved to a brand-new brick building. The Black school continued to serve the students until 1939, when they were transferred to Eagle Avenue School in Charles Town and the old building was sold.

07028.ED – How nicely these students are dressed for school. Although there is no date, many of the students are identified: they are, from left to right: (first row) Norman Saul, B. Johnson, Elizabeth Williams, Hallie Rutherford; (second row) Sisumond Taylor, Gertrude Brown Lawson, Ruth Tucker, Margaret Jackson, Josephine Luckett, Helen Burman, and Georgia Cool; (third row) Julia Rutherford, John Rutherford, Lem Wise, ? Wise, ? Rutherford, two unidentified, and Louis King; (fourth row) Reverend Yearwood.

07030.ED – Students are pictured at Grandview Elementary School in the 1950’s. The school started out as a four-room school that served Black students from Bolivar and Harpers Ferry. Students from grades 1-8 attended. At the end of the school year in 1965, the school closed its doors. The last faculty members were Mrs. Betty Taylor, Mrs. Ruby Reeler, Mr. Thomas Lee, Principal Mr. Robert Nunn, and custodian Mr. Walter Fox.

07031.ED – Pictured here are the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) delegates’ pilgrimage to Storer College in 1932. A marker was rejected because officials thought it might enflame the public sentiment in those times. In 1906 the second meeting of the Niagara Movement which was held at Storer College in Harpers Ferry and led by W. E. B. DuBois served as the forerunner of the NAACP. Some of the heads of the Jefferson County NAACP over the years include: Eugene E. Bishop Baltimore, Richard Clark, Ernest M. Dandridge, Sr., George C. Rutherford, Russell Stephenson, Lester Taylor and James A. Tolbert, Sr.

07033.ED – This photo shows the inside front cover of a book which was used by black students in Jefferson County. Originally it had been purchased by the Board of Education for the exclusive use of White Students. However, Black students were allowed to use the textbooks when they were no longer needed by the whites because new books had been purchased for the white students. Whereas they were not as new as the books for the white students, the black students were grateful to have them, even though they were castoffs.

07034.ED – Pictured is Miss Yvonne D. Snowden who was a teacher in the junior high school at Charles Town, WV. Miss Snowden was a house guest of Edward S. Ailor and family at 1410 Harlem Avenue. The photo was taken by Brown.

07038.ED – Archilles Dixon was one of 540 free blacks in Jefferson County in 1850. He and his wife, Ellen Dixon, owned a house and a blacksmith shop on the corner of Samuel and Liberty Streets in Charles Town. They allowed teacher Annie Dudley the use of one room for her classroom in order to teach black children. It was balled the Liberty Street school and was used until sometime between 1867 and 1874 when the county began its own public school education for blacks, at which time it built a brick building for said purpose.

07039.ED – St. Philip’s School — St. Philip’s Parochial and Industrial School was located on Lawrence Street in Charles Town. It opened in 1900 and it lasted until the depression years. Students from left to right, row 1: James Russ, Carl Morris, Frank Buford, Mildred Mitchell, Morgan Crittendon, Lucille Baylor, Cleo Morris, Pearl Stevenson; row 2: ? Morris, unidentified, Paul Black, Mary Virginia Walker, unidentified, Margaret Crittenson, George Mitchell, Wilbur Drummond, Nethersole Rose, Virginia Taylor; row 3: Harold Morris, Alezia Taylor (Brooks), Alice Bradford, Frederica Morris, Leo Harris, Ethel Stevenson, Pete Williams, Hugh Crittenson, Katherine Lee, Margaret Taylor, Dorothy Williams, Charles Baylor, Jessee Bradford, Lyle Brown, Ernest Parker, Agnes Patriot, Rev. A. N. B. Boyd, Mary Ellen Rideoutt, Jeannetta Baylor, Lewis Johnson and Carl Tynes.

07040.ED – Pictured is the second school for black children in Charles Town, WV.

If you have any information about any of the above photos, or if you have photos that you would like to add to the archive, please email James Green here.