Virginia Room Digital Collection

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GB67 Harrison School

FILES

GB067 Harrison School.jpg

Dublin Core

Title

GB67 Harrison School

Description

Students playing on the basketball court at Harrison School.

Harrison School was built in 1916 for the cost of $31,818 and opened in the winter of 1917. Lucy Addison served as the school’s first principal. Addison was responsible for gradually expanding the curriculum to include high school classes at Harrison and she repeatedly lobbied the Virginia Board of Education for full accreditation. Addison’s efforts were finally recognized in 1924 when the Virginia Board of Education accredited Harrison School as a secondary school. That same year, Harrison School graduated its first class high school class, becoming the first public high school for African Americans in Southwest Virginia. After the opening of a Lucy Addison High School in 1928, Harrison School continued as an elementary school until the 1960s. From 1985 to 2009 the Harrison School building housed the Harrison Museum of African American Culture.

Publisher

Roanoke Public Libraries

Date

Unknown

Contributor

Gainsboro Branch of Roanoke Public Libraries

Rights

Please contact the Virginia Room at 540.853.2073 for permission to use.

Identifier

GB67

Coverage

Gainsboro

Still Image Item Type Metadata

Original Format

Photograph

Citation

“GB67 Harrison School,” Virginia Room Digital Collection, accessed December 22, 2024, http://www.virginiaroom.org/digital/document/GB67.