Dublin Core
Title
Shady Grove, a Rosenwald School
Subject
African American Education in Louisa County
Description
Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932) is credited with the establishment of the Rosenwald Foundation, an organization that worked to promote and improve African-American schools. The fund helped build over 5,300 schools across the South, including 381 r in Virginia and 3 in Louisa County: Shady Grove, The Louisa Training School, and Mechanicsville.. Of those, two are listed with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources in Louisa County: the Shady Grove School and Louisa Training School.
A remarkable series of letters still exists in which the following story unfolds. Contained in the series of letters are those from each of the members of 'The Virginia Trio,", Jackson Davis, Virginia Randolph and James Dillard.
In 1923, G. W. Hayden, a community leader, contacted W. D. Gresham, the state Supervisor of Negro Education, and asked him to come visit the existing Shady Grove School in Louisa County. The purpose of the visit would determine whether the conditions were right for a Rosenwald appropriation. On his return, Gresham wrote to Hayden, “I saw actual conditions first hand and I now know the needs of your people. I promise you that I shall do all in my power to help secure a new building for the people in that section.†Furthermore, Gresham then contacted Superintendent Harris Hart by stating, “I recently visited the Shady Grove school in Louisa County at the request of some of the patrons who are earnestly striving for a new building. The present building was built by the Negroes about forty or fifty years ago and is entirely unsuited for school work today. The building is made out of logs with one window on each side and the crudest sort of desks. As I understand it, the board has made no appropriation toward this school other that to pay a part of the teacher’s salary.â€
After the funds had been promised, work began on the schoolhouse. By 1925, the project had been completed. In a letter addressed to G. W. Hayden only days after his visit, Gresham wrote, “I do not hesitate to say that it is one of the best one-room schools in the State.â€
On a side note, one letter from Virginia Randolph to Mr. G. W. Hayden sheds light on her force of character and leadership among those working for improved Negro Education. Miss Randolph, the first Jeanes Supervising Industrial Teacher, contacted Hayden regarding his daughter’s education. Hayden's daughter had apparently enrolled in Miss Randolph's school to train teachers. Mr. Hayden wanted his daughter to stop her education and teach at the local school.
Virginia Randolph tried to persuade Hayden to allow his daughter to remain at the Randolph Education Center. She wrote him the following in a searing letter " Now, if she stops school, what can she teach? She will have to get an emergency certificate… Which isn’t worth a penny to the uplift of the child. …Those people that are after Lillie know your weak point and are trying to deprive the child of something if she gets as she should will last her to her grave." She began: “I used to take you for a sensible man but I see now you drift with the tide.†She closed by writing “Again, I will close by saying you are a full grown man do to suit yourself and I will never worry you about trying to make something of your own child...â€
The leadership of the women in the roles of Supervisors gave them a voice and an influence without match.
To read more about the Jeanes Fund, visit http://www.piedmontvahistory.org/archives13/items/show/325.
To read more about the Rosenwald Schools, visit http://www.piedmontvahistory.org/archives13/items/show/235.
To read more about the Shady Grove School, visit http://www.piedmontvahistory.org/archives13/items/show/231.
A remarkable series of letters still exists in which the following story unfolds. Contained in the series of letters are those from each of the members of 'The Virginia Trio,", Jackson Davis, Virginia Randolph and James Dillard.
In 1923, G. W. Hayden, a community leader, contacted W. D. Gresham, the state Supervisor of Negro Education, and asked him to come visit the existing Shady Grove School in Louisa County. The purpose of the visit would determine whether the conditions were right for a Rosenwald appropriation. On his return, Gresham wrote to Hayden, “I saw actual conditions first hand and I now know the needs of your people. I promise you that I shall do all in my power to help secure a new building for the people in that section.†Furthermore, Gresham then contacted Superintendent Harris Hart by stating, “I recently visited the Shady Grove school in Louisa County at the request of some of the patrons who are earnestly striving for a new building. The present building was built by the Negroes about forty or fifty years ago and is entirely unsuited for school work today. The building is made out of logs with one window on each side and the crudest sort of desks. As I understand it, the board has made no appropriation toward this school other that to pay a part of the teacher’s salary.â€
After the funds had been promised, work began on the schoolhouse. By 1925, the project had been completed. In a letter addressed to G. W. Hayden only days after his visit, Gresham wrote, “I do not hesitate to say that it is one of the best one-room schools in the State.â€
On a side note, one letter from Virginia Randolph to Mr. G. W. Hayden sheds light on her force of character and leadership among those working for improved Negro Education. Miss Randolph, the first Jeanes Supervising Industrial Teacher, contacted Hayden regarding his daughter’s education. Hayden's daughter had apparently enrolled in Miss Randolph's school to train teachers. Mr. Hayden wanted his daughter to stop her education and teach at the local school.
Virginia Randolph tried to persuade Hayden to allow his daughter to remain at the Randolph Education Center. She wrote him the following in a searing letter " Now, if she stops school, what can she teach? She will have to get an emergency certificate… Which isn’t worth a penny to the uplift of the child. …Those people that are after Lillie know your weak point and are trying to deprive the child of something if she gets as she should will last her to her grave." She began: “I used to take you for a sensible man but I see now you drift with the tide.†She closed by writing “Again, I will close by saying you are a full grown man do to suit yourself and I will never worry you about trying to make something of your own child...â€
The leadership of the women in the roles of Supervisors gave them a voice and an influence without match.
To read more about the Jeanes Fund, visit http://www.piedmontvahistory.org/archives13/items/show/325.
To read more about the Rosenwald Schools, visit http://www.piedmontvahistory.org/archives13/items/show/235.
To read more about the Shady Grove School, visit http://www.piedmontvahistory.org/archives13/items/show/231.
Source
The Shady Grove School
Publisher
Louisa County Historical Society
Date
Photograph: 1925
Rights
All items in our archives have been donated to The Louisa County Historical Society with express permission to use them only for not-for-profit purposes of education and individual research. We make them available online to further those ends. Anyone wishing to use images online or in printed publications must obtain express written permission to do so from the Louisa County Historical Society and the legal copyright holder. Users assume full responsibility for disputes arising from copyright violations or invasions of privacy.
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