CHESTER and MIDLOTHIAN, Va. – In the era between the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement, the Rosenwald rural school building program provided critical educational opportunities to African Americans in the South. Through this initiative, pioneered by Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald, more than 5,000 Rosenwald Schools were built, including 364 in Virginia. It is estimated that only about 10 percent of these schools remain standing, and in 2013, Preservation Virginia included the Rosenwald Schools on its annual Most Endangered Historical Sites list.
On February 22, 2014, John Tyler Community College (JTCC) in partnership with Preservation Virginia will host a networking and planning meeting on Saving Virginia’s Rosenwald Schools. The goal of this event is to bring together Rosenwald School alumni and their descendants, students, community members, historical groups, researchers, and preservationists to discuss current efforts to save these sites and to help inform the planning of a statewide initiative that will identify the types of resources needed for surveying and preserving Rosenwald Schools in Virginia. Anyone with ties to the Rosenwald Schools and those interested in learning about these preservation efforts are invited to participate in the discussion. Admission is free, but pre-registration is required. Saving Virginia’s Rosenwald Schools will be held from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. on February 22 in the Nicholas Center at John Tyler Community College’s Chester Campus located at 13101 Jefferson Davis Highway. For additional information about the event or to register, contact Dr. Alyce Miller, associate professor of history at John Tyler, at amiller@jtcc.edu or 804-706-5254 or Mr. Justin Sarafin, director of preservation initiatives and engagement at Preservation Virginia, at jsarafin@preservationvirginia.org or 804-648-1889 ext. 317.
In addition to the Rosenwald Schools summit, John Tyler Community College will hold a number of other activities throughout February in honor of Black History Month. These activities are free and open to the community.
Monday, February 3
2:00 p.m.
Lecture – Tuskegee Airmen Presented by Howard Baugh, Howard Baugh Petersburg Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.
Midlothian Campus, Hamel Hall, room H109
Tuesday, February 4
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Documentary Film – Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin
Midlothian Campus, Hamel Hall, room H109
Wednesday, February 5
9:30 a.m.
Lecture – Dismembering Slavery: Corpse Desecration as a Way of Enforcing Mastery
Presented by Mr. David Roettger, JTCC History Instructor
Chester Campus, Nicholas Center, room N102
Wednesday, February 5
6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Documentary Film – White Scripts and Black Supermen: Black Masculinities in Comic Books
Midlothian Campus, Hamel Hall, room H109
Thursday, February 6
1:00 p.m.
Lecture – The Legislation of Discrimination: Racialized Laws in Seventeenth Century Virginia
Presented by Mr. James Tolj, JTCC History Instructor
Chester Campus, Nicholas Center, room N102
Monday, February 10
12:30 p.m.
Lecture – Program of Action: The Rev. L. Francis Griffin and the Struggle for Racial Equality in Farmville, 1963
Presented by Dr. Brian J. Daugherity, VCU History Department and Mr. Brian Lee, Ph.D. student at UNC-Greensboro
Chester Campus, Nicholas Center, room N102
Wednesday, February 12
12:00 p.m.
Read-in
Led by Author Charles Carroll Lee and Thomasine Hill
Chester Campus, Nicholas Center, room N102
Wednesday, February 12
2:00 p.m.
Lecture – The Virginia Slave Name Database
Presented by Dr. Lauranett Lee, Curator of African American History, Virginia Historical Society
Midlothian Campus, Hamel Hall, room H109
Friday, February 14
11:00 a.m.
Lecture – Virginia’s Pupil Placement Board and the Practical Applications of Massive Resistance, 1956-1966
Presented by Dr. Katie Eskridge, Germanna Community College Assistant Professor of History and JTCC Adjunct Instructor
Chester Campus, Bird Hall, room B124
For more information about JTCC’s Black History Month events, contact Dr. Alyce Miller at amiller@jtcc.edu or 804-706-5254.
John Tyler Community College is a two-year, public institution of higher education and is the fifth largest of the 23 community colleges in Virginia. With campuses in Chester and Midlothian and off-campus classrooms throughout the area, John Tyler offers quality and economical opportunities for students who want to earn a degree or certificate, transfer to a four-year college or university, train for the workforce, or switch careers. The College, which served more than 14,000 students during the 2012-13 academic year, offers 17 associate degrees, seven certificates, and 34 career studies certificates. The institution also serves 15,000 non-credit students and more than 1,200 companies and government agencies annually through the Community College Workforce Alliance. The College also is committed to sustainability. In July 2010, it received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Certification for Hamel Hall on its Midlothian Campus, becoming the first in the Virginia Community College System to receive such recognition. John Tyler Community College is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.