African American history is still being written as grassroots efforts seek to revitalize old schoolhouses known as Rosenwald Schools, which brought education to African American children across the segregated South.
In the heart of Cumberland County, Virginia, stands a beacon of historical significance against the shadows of a segregated past: Pine Grove Elementary. Constructed in 1917, this institution is one of the over 5,000 Rosenwald-Tuskegee Schools, a monumental partnership that transformed the landscape of education for African American children across the South.
“You’re standing in the midst of history,” said former Pine Grove Elementary student, Muriel Miller-Branch.
Miller-Branch, whose father helped build Pine Grove, recalls her daily three-and-a-half-mile journey to school – forced to walk while white students drove by on buses, spitting and throwing things at her.
“This is Jim Crow South where everything is separate,” Miller-Branch said. “And your worth as an African American was not valued.”
Before the Supreme Court declared segregated schools unconstitutional in 1954, African Americans often had no access to public education or attended segregated schools in run-down buildings with make-shift desks.
Living in the Jim Crow era led to constant tension, making schools like Pine Grove Elementary part of the innovative Rosenwald-Tuskegee initiative
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