The Woodville Rosenwald School in Gloucester County has a history that dates back to 1923 and is specifically centered around African-American education.
“This was a two-room school," said descendant Deborah Billups. "There probably would have been 20 or so students in a room.”
Built in the 1920s, the Woodville Rosenwald School was one of six Rosenwald schools in the county and one of 382 in the state. The creation of the schools was a direct collaboration between Julius Rosenwald, a white Jewish businessman, and Booker T. Washington, president of the Tuskegee Institute.
Watch: Elizabeth City State University to renovate on-campus Rosenwald School
Elizabeth City State University to renovate on-campus Rosenwald School
“It really was a collaborative movement to upgrade African American education,but it was done with a lot of different people and with a lot of different backgrounds all trying to move the country forward,” said Ronnie Cohen, vice president of the Woodville Rosenwald School Foundation.
Dr. Wesley Wilson was the long-time president of the foundation. He spearheaded saving the building from demolition in 2013 when Route 17 was rezoned for commercial use only.
“We started this foundation with the idea of saying we’re going to save it from the bulldozer,” said Wilson.
It's a history of perseverance and the idea that everyone, regardless of the color of their skin, has a right to learn. Billups says that notion resonated with her.
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“As I learned the history, it has become so important to me to continue the history, understand the history, and share the history with as many as I possibly can,” said Billups.
The foundation recently received a grant from the National Parks Service to further preserve the school's story by interviewing Gloucester residents who once attended the school.
“These oral histories are something that can disseminate the history of Rosenwald schools far beyond Gloucester and even Virginia,” said Cohen.
The oral histories will be housed in the special collections section at the William & Mary Earl Gregg Swem Library.
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