Separate, Not Equal: The Civil Rights Era in York County, Virginia

James Weldon Johnson High School Football Team and Cheerleaders, circa 1950s
Courtesy: Albert Durant Collection, Media Services, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

John P. Allen
Courtesy: The Hundley Family History Committee

This article was written by John P. Allen, descendant of Anthony and Octavia Hundley.

I entered the first grade at York County Training School in September 1948. Just as my ancestors had roots in the Reservation community, so too did my school. The community organized the school in 1914 in the Lackey area of the Reservation under the direction of Mr. Charles E. Brown. When the U.S. government commandeered the land in 1918, my ancestors and the school were forced to relocate.

When I attended, the school was a segregated facility for African American children from first grade through high school. Teachers taught multiple grades all at once. For example, first and second grade shared the same teacher, and so on all the way up to the high school grades. The school consisted of a main classroom building, a home economics house and an industrial arts shop. There was no central heat. Each classroom had a cold burning stove, outdoor toilets, a tiny library and a very small auditorium. We had used desks and books from the white schools, had no gym, and used an unsafe playground with a sliding board and a few broken down swings.

Charles E. Brown
Source: Naval Weapons Station, Yorktown, employee yearbook
Courtesy: Mary Lassiter

All the public schools in Virginia were segregated and supposedly “separate but equal”. However, the white schools in the county were primarily masonry construction, with indoor plumbing and central heating. The York County Training School only went to the 11th grade with a very limited curriculum. The Brown v. Board ruling in 1954 gave the African American community hope for a better educational era. In May of 1954 “Black Lightning” struck the school and it was burned to the ground—happy days with hope for a new facility.

York County Training School, Front entrance, circa 1920s
Courtesy: Johnette Weaver

A new, consolidated, all African-American school, James Weldon Johnson, was built along with a new all white high school, York High. The schools were about two miles apart on Route 17. There was still no total integration until about 1970. The Johnson facilities were a great improvement compared to the rather crude ones at the Training School. The 12th grade was added along with improved curriculum and faculty. All were keenly aware of the almost total segregation in York County during this time. There was little or no African American representation in County government and on the School Board.

James Weldon Johnson High School, Yorktown, Virginia, 1955
Courtesy: Daily Press

Despite the poor segregated school system for African Americans, many who grew up in the segregated system went on to college, received professional degrees and certifications and were participants in all aspects of American life. However, it was not easy with the constraints of how racism has burdened our development and progress.

Spectators at James Weldon Johnson High School Homecoming Game, Yorktown, Virginia, circa 1950s
Courtesy: Albert Durant Collection, Media Services, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Homecoming Queen wearing a banner reading "Miss Hornet" sits in an automobile with her Court on the athletic field of James Weldon Johnson High School in Yorktown, Virginia, circa 1950s
Courtesy: Albert Durant Collection, Media Services, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Homecoming Court with football players and faculty, James Weldon Johnson High School, Yorktown, Virginia, circa 1950s
Courtesy: Albert Durant Collection, Media Services, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

There was an active NAACP chapter in York County headed up by Mr. Charles E. Brown, the former principal of the original school in the Reservation community and the York County Training School. The NAACP was very focused on Black voter registration. There was a Civic League Club that was also active in voter registration and County involvement with the Black community. The African-American churches were instrumental in fighting for better school facilities, teachers, supplies and community amenities.

Charles E. Brown pictured at a meeting of the NAACP, Williamsburg Branch in Grafton, Virginia, circa 1950s

Back row standing, left to right: Rev. Milton Banks, [unidentified], Rev. Frank Segar, [unidentified], Mr. Edlow, Rev. Samuel L. Massie, Lieutenant Palmer Sr., [unidentified]. 

Middle row seated, left to right: Dotcary Love Rice, Beulah Johnson Wallace or Beulah Wallace Taylor, [unidentified], Ella Mae Judkins. 

Front row, seated, left to right: McKinley T. Whiting, Charles Edward Brown (Branch President), Bessie Jackson."

Courtesy: Media Resources, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation 

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