Rock Hill Academy
See also: Massive Resistance Timeline
Rock Hill Academy was a private high school established in 1959 near McIntire Park on the historic 9-acre Rock Hill estate — once the site of a circa 1820 two-story Federal style house (which burned down in 1963). Originally segregated, the academy closed in 1979. Several single-story classroom buildings (built ca. 1959) remain today and are used by the Monticello Area Community Action Agency (address: 1025 Park Street).
Rock Hill Academy was one of several white-only schools founded by the Charlottesville Educational Foundation and the Parents' Committee for Emergency Schooling in Charlottesville in 1959, after city public schools were closed by Governor J. Lindsay Almond Jr. to prevent desegregation following the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling. The closing of public schools in Charlottesville changed the debate from segregation versus integration, to desegregation versus closed public schools. Establishment of the Rock Hill Academy was one of several attempts by White parents to substitute segregated private academies for the closed public schools.
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History
September 4, 1958: Governor J. Lindsay Almond Jr. divests superintendents of Virginia schools of their authority to desegregate their schools; he also advises that if they go against his order they will be found in violation of Virginia laws.
September 15, 1958: Governor J. Lindsay Almond Jr. closes Warren County High School, the first school held in violation of his statewide mandate against desegregation.
September 1958. Federal district court judge John Paul ordered Black students admitted to a high school and elementary school in Charlottesville.
September 19, 1958: Governor J. Lindsay Almond Jr. closes Lane High School and Venable Elementary School in Charlottesville to prevent desegregation.
In the smaller communities of Charlottesville and Front Royal, a sharp fight among whites ensued, pitting pro-public school parents against backers of the segregated private efforts.
In 1958, federal courts ordered Charlottesville's public high schools, Jackson P. Burley High School and Lane High School, to integrate in the aftermath of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling. Despite being one of the more liberal communities in Virginia at that time, the city instead chose to close its schools as part of a political strategy known as "Massive resistance."[1] Concerned white citizens had established local State Sovereignty Commissions such as the Charlottesville Education Foundation and the Parents' Committee for Emergency Schooling whose goals were the preservation of segregation in schools within their region. Rock Hill Academy was founded by these organizations as a white high school to serve the area, alongside Robert E. Lee School which served as the local white elementary school.[2] The academy closed in 1979, with its previous campus being taken over by the now-defunct Heritage Christian Academy.
Academic Information
Rock Hill Academy served as the local high school for white students in grades 8-12. A large portion of tuition at the school was covered by state grants, with endowments of this nature being upheld by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in 1964.[3] The first wave of students had been granted vouchers by the state to attend the academy while the public schools were closed at the time. The academy was headed by Principal William Story throughout the majority of its 20-year existence, a man who had previously served as superintendent of schools in the city of South Norfolk before that community was merged into the city of Norfolk.[4]
External links
Geographic map showing location of former school
- ↑ Web. [https://www.livedtheology.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/mcbride.pdf Christ Episcopal Church Amidst Massive Resistance: A Theological Examination of Christian Duty], Project on Lived Theology, 03/07/2003
- ↑ Web. A Virginian's boyhood during segregation, Press-Republican, 11/04/2016
- ↑ Web. Text of Supreme court's Decision ordering Virginia County to Reopen Its Schools, New York Times, 05/26/1964
- ↑ Web. Interview with Judge Barry Marshall, Virginia Center for Digital History, University of Virginia, 2000