As part of Pittsylvania County’s 250 Year Anniversary, Northside High School Museum will be exploring the history of black education in the county. It will trace the educational pathway for northern Pittsylvania County black students from 1903 until 1969 and feature an exhibit on Rosenwald Schools.
Documenting the school’s early beginnings also includes photos and information about Northside’s more than 80 feeder schools, one and two-room community schools that offered African-American students an elementary education.
Some of these feeder schools were Rosenwald schools.
Virginia’s very own educator Booker T. Washington came up with the concept of Rosenwald schools and approached philanthropist Julius Rosenwald with the idea.
The Rosenwald school building program provided funds for rural schools on behalf of African-American children in the south between the Civil War and the Civil Rights era. There were possibly 360 Rosenwald schools in Virginia and at least 16 in Pittsylvania County.
The museum is located at Corner Road Baptist Church in the Riceville-Java community. 1444 Riceville Rd, Java, VA 24565.
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