The Ashburn Colored School is a former one-room schoolhouse for black students located at 20593 Ashburn Road in Ashburn, Virginia. Constructed in the late 19th century, it was in use until 1958. In the 21st century it has been restored after being dilapidated and vandalized.
| Ashburn Colored School | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Address | |
 | |
20593 Ashburn Road , 20147 | |
| Information | |
| Former names | Colored School #A, Cedar Lane Colored School, Farmwell Colored School |
| Established | 1887 or 1892 |
| Closed | 1958 |
| Grades | 1-7 |
History
editThe frame building was constructed in either 1887 (for $400) or 1892 (for $500) as a one-room school for black ("colored") children under segregation. It was initially called Colored School #A or Cedar Lane Colored School; in 1892 it was sold to the Broad Run School District and from then to 1896 was called Farmwell Colored School.[1] Up to 50 students[2] in Grades 1 to 7 were taught there until 1958;[3] in 1959 the property was sold at auction.[1]
Loudoun School For The Gifted purchased the building as part of the site for a new school in 2014,[4] and a group of students began restoring it in 2016.[1] After a vandalism incident in 2016, $100,000 was raised through donations[4][5] and the renovation was completed and the building opened as a museum,[6] with a dedication ceremony held in September 2017 attended by at least one former student and the brother of the last teacher.[2][4][7] Seventh-grade students at Farmwell Station Middle School successfully obtained grants and applied to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources for a historical marker at the school.[2][4][5]
Vandalism incident
editIn September 2016, after the Loudoun School students had raised funds for over a year[2] and had begun renovations by replacing the windows, the building was defaced with graffiti including "white power" and "brown power"[8][9][10] by five 16- and 17-year-olds, two of them white and the other three minorities.[11][12] In February 2017 they were ordered by a judge to read one book a month for the next year from a list of 35 books on experiences of discrimination and write a report on each, to listen to an oral history account by a former student at the Ashburn School, to visit the Holocaust Museum and the exhibit on Japanese American internment camps at the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., and write a final 3,500-word essay about the effects of swastikas and white power slogans on African Americans and on the community as a whole, including references to Nazism, lynching, and legal discrimination.[11][12][13] Alejandra Rueda, a prosecutor and deputy commonwealth attorney, proposed and worked out the alternative remedy in the belief that education would be more effective than community service, recalling her own upbringing in Guadalajara, Mexico, when she learned about discrimination by reading, beginning with books chosen by her librarian mother.[11][12] A teacher objected to the use of reading as punishment,[6] and some, particularly members of the black community, saw the disposition as lenient, but Rueda argued that it was more demanding than what juveniles with no prior criminal record would normally receive.[11] The county has since reformed its juvenile justice system and a younger boy has received a reading sentence modeled on the Ashburn School disposition.[6][11]
References
edit- ^ a b c "ASHBURN (COLORED) (and FARMWELL), Broad Run District". The Edwin Washington Project. April 14, 2018.
- ^ a b c d Debbie Truong (September 16, 2017). "A historic African American school was defaced. Then donations poured in". The Washington Post.
- ^ "Schools A-C". Documenting Segregated Schools of Loudoun County. Edwin Washington Project. August 28, 2017.
- ^ a b c d Karen Graham (September 18, 2017). "A monument to progress: Community dedicates renovated Ashburn Colored School". Loudoun Times-Mirror.
- ^ a b Jim Barnes (June 12, 2017). "Loudoun seventh-graders obtain historical marker for Ashburn Colored School". The Washington Post.
- ^ a b c Christine Hauser (April 5, 2018). "Teenage Vandals Were Sentenced to Read Books. Here's What One Learned". The New York Times.
- ^ Renss Greene (September 16, 2017). "Ashburn Colored School Renovation Unveiled". Loudoun Now (photo gallery).
- ^ Maya Rhodan (October 3, 2016). "Historic Black School in Virginia Vandalized with 'White Power' Graffiti". Time.
- ^ Max Blau (October 3, 2016). "Historic black school in Virginia vandalized with racist messages". CNN.
- ^ Sharon Reed (October 3, 2016). "Rally to Repair Historic Ashburn Colored School Racist Vandalism Set for Oct. 9". Patch.com.
- ^ a b c d e Emma Jane Kirby (April 16, 2019). "Graffiti punished by reading - 'It worked!' says prosecutor". BBC News.
- ^ a b c Christine Hauser (February 8, 2017). "Teenagers Who Vandalized Historic Black Schoolhouse Are Ordered to Read Books". The New York Times (including book list).
- ^ Daniel Barnes (February 2, 2017) [February 1, 2017]. "Teens Who Vandalized Historic Virginia Schoolhouse Ordered to Visit Holocaust Museum, Study Racial Discrimination". WRC-TV.
External links
edit- Ashburn Old School on Facebook