The Dedication of Virginia’s Scrabble School
The Grand Opening of the Rappahannock (Virginia) African-American Heritage Center at Scrabble School took place on Saturday, May 1, from 1-3 p.m. Director Aviva Kempner attended the dedication with Rosenwald scholar and relative Stephanie Deutsch to witness another uplifting chapter in the story of restoring former Rosenwald Schools.
The public turned out to view the new exhibit, and restored school building transformed into the Rappahannock Senior Center at Scrabble School.
Scrabble School is located at 111 Scrabble Road, Castleton, Virginia.
The exhibit tells the story of this historic Rosenwald School in Rappahannock County within the context of the county’s Black community, as well as its national historical relevance to the education of African Americans throughout the South during the Jim Crow era and its architectural importance as one of the few Rosenwald Schools restored. The exhibit has an interactive multimedia element featuring first-person accounts of Scrabble School and life in Rappahannock County during most of the period the school operated (1921-1968). The interactive portion is also accessible online at www.scrabbleschool.org.
In conjunction with this opening, The Rappahannock Senior Center at Scrabble School held an appreciation open house. In attendance were participants in both The Heritage Center and the Senior Center that are co-tenets of the renovated school building. Approved by the Board of Supervisors, this county owned building is one of the few Rosenwald Schools in the country that has been renovated and reused for the benefit of the community.
We will be visiting other restored historic Rosenwald Schools for our upcoming documentary.
Aviva Kempner, Producer
The Rosenwald Schools
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