The Edwin Washington Project

The Edwin Washington Project

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Documenting the history of pre-integration schools in Loudoun County, Virginia. By appointment only. Just make an appointment.

We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit working with LCPS and local history associations and libraries. We operate a "research library" exploring the impact of segregated education in Loudoun from 1846 to 1968, the main focus being on the African-American Community. We also have a more general interest in the development of "country schools," and are a member of the Country School Association of America

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03/14/2025

Contract for a Black instructor (nt dated)

03/14/2025

We have seen something called “elementary teachers day schools.” We have surmised these took the form of some sort of educational exchange, but more research will be required to understand their full importance. We also found high school teachers day schools, though none for African-Americans.

The following table shows instances of “elementary teachers day schools” extracted from 3.3 Annual School Reports: 1926 to 1937. (These are generally found on Sheet 4 of the relevant year).

Year White Negro Total
Male Female Total Male Female Total

1925/26 10 88 98 9 19 28 126
1926/27 9 89 98 8 18 27 125
1927/28 5 97 102 6 20 26 128
1928/29 4 97 101 6 22 28 129
1929/30 1 100 101 7 21 28 129
1930/31 0 90 90 7 21 28 118
1931/32 1 91 92 7 21 28 120
1932/33 1 90 91 6 21 17 118
1933/34 3 86 89 5 20 25 114
1934/35 4 82 86 5 21 26 112
1935/36 3 78 81 5 21 26 107
1936/37 4 77 81 7 19 26 107

03/14/2025

Some Superintendents made the rounds on horseback. Here is Superintendent Shumate.

Dirt Don't Burn: A Black Community's Struggle for Educational Equality Under Segregation 02/12/2025

Larry Roeder met with Congressman Suhas Subramanyam on Monday to discuss the Edwin Washington Society, the Bulletin of Loudoun County History and Dirt Don't Burn, our groundbreaking book on the history of segregated education in Loudoun County. Went very well. Suhas will help us develop an article in the Bulletin on Indian-American life in the County, and is working with us to bring the project and our book to the attention of the Black Caucus.

Dirt Don't Burn: A Black Community's Struggle for Educational Equality Under Segregation Dirt Don't Burn: A Black Community's Struggle for Educational Equality Under Segregation

Accueil - Lycée Jean Dautet à la Rochelle 01/27/2025

Larry Roeder will lecture on Dirt Don't Burn in early June at the Lycée Jean Dautet school in La Rochelle, France. This will be the first formal briefing in France on the history of segregated education in Loudoun County.

Accueil - Lycée Jean Dautet à la Rochelle Accueil Portes ouvertes Les portes ouvertes du lycée auront lieu le 31 janvier de 17h00 à 20h00 et le samedi 1er février de 9h00 à 12h pour le ...Suite... ERASMUS + La délégation de Jean Dautet, composée d'élèves de seconde à la terminale et de deux ...Suite... Portes Ouvertes Section Spor...

01/25/2025

Guthrie H Ashton (black) From 1945 when I started until 1957 when I graduated the only food we got was some apples when I was in 7th grade. Mrs. Craven sold hotdogs and chocolate milk. It was brown bag for 12 years.

Dana Keating (white) my dad carried 2 biscuits with homemade jelly when available every day for lunch. That was 1934 forward. He would often have fried fatback on the biscuits.

Lisa Prosser Aktug (white) My mom said she had saltine crackers crushed in milk in the morning for breakfast. (Her father died as a result of being mustard gassed in WWI leaving their family destitute during the Depression. She says that she remembers her mother going to the garden and digging up roots of some of the vegetables as that was all that was left. She knows every edible native plant too. I’ve started taking notes on her edible plant knowledge.

Nonna Sours Good (white) My grandfather was a medic in WWI. When he returned, he worked on three different big estates as an estate manager. The last estate was High Meadows up on Blue Ridge Mountain Road where my mother was born in 1936. My mother and I visited the estate a few years ago at the invitation of the current owners. When we got to the huge barn, my mother said she could remember people bringing their pigs from all around the area to my grandfather for butchering and curing their hams. She said the barn would have pigs hanging in several rows from end to end. My grandfather's ham cure was a salt and pepper one. I still have the recipe which was written down by my grandmother.

We have many stories about how lunch was handled in the one room schools and the consensus is that white and Black students both suffered. One white contact told us that her mother had saltine crackers crushed in milk in the morning for breakfast. Her father had died from mustard gas in WWI, leaving their family destitute during the Depression, to the point that her mother resorted to digging up roots of some of the vegetables as that was all that was left. She also had to learn every edible native plant.

An African-American contact told us that from 1945 when he started until 1957 when he graduated, the only food he got was apples in the 7th grade. Mrs. Craven sold hotdogs and chocolate milk; but other than that, it was brown bag for twelve years. Another white contact told us that his father from 1934 forward, carried 2 biscuits with homemade jelly when available every day for lunch. Sometimes he had fried fatback on the biscuits.

Photos from Library of Virginia's post 12/22/2024
Bulletin of Loudoun County History: 2024/2025 Edition 12/22/2024

The latest version of the Bulletin of Loudoun County Historyis for sale on Amazon and sells for $10. We had a few delays due to technical issues at Amazon, but now up and running. We also anticipate copies being distributed to the public libraries. A copy is already at the Balch Library.
I invite all of you to consider submitting articles. We ask that they be in word for windows and that you use endnotes. Length should be under 4,000 words.
This issue contains articles on:
The history of the statue in front of Douglass High School.
The desegregation of the Purcellville library.
Tracing One Enslaved Community Trafficked from Virginia to Louisiana

The next issue will include:
A history of the Daniel, Hankerson, Knox building on the Douglass compound in Leesburg.
History of the China King Restaurant in Leesburg, with commentary on the Chinese community of Loudoun.
Two articles are anticipated on the Hispanic community of Loudoun.

One article is anticipated, due to a writing contest we are sponsoring for public high school students. $1000 for best article based on content of our book Dirt Don't Burn (also on Amazon)
Bulletin of Loudoun County History: 2024/2025 Edition

Bulletin of Loudoun County History: 2024/2025 Edition Annual publication of the Edwin Washington Society. Covers history of the "Upward Struggle Statue" erected in front of Douglass HS in Leesburg, Va, Fighting Segregation at the Purcellville Library, Tracing on Enslaved Community Trafficked from Virginia to Louisiana, and a history of the old shop ...

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