Ashburn School

T-28

On this site stands Ashburn Colored School, a one-room public schoolhouse built ca. 1892 for African American students. Virginia's public school system, established in 1870, was racially segregated from its inception. Schools for black children received less funding and offered fewer educational opportunities than those for whites. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that segregated schools were unconstitutional, but Virginia’s government resisted integration. This school closed in 1958, when its students were transferred to a new segregated school in Leesburg. Loudoun County schools were fully desegregated in the 1968-1969 school year.

Department of Historic Resources, 2017

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

“A Guide to the Ashburn Colored School: 1870-1962” (Thomas Balch Library) Ashburn Historic District, National Register of Historic Places nomination (2014) Washington Post, 26 Feb., 5, 9 Oct. 2016. Leesburg Today, 30 April 2015. Loudoun Now, 27 June 2016. Larry W. Roeder Jr., ed., “Documenting Pre-Integration Schools of Loudoun County: Ashburn (Colored),” The Edwin Washington Project. Ashburn African American School, Preliminary Information Form, VDHR (2016) Evelyn D. Causey and Julia Claypool, “Desegregation in Loudoun County Public Schools, 1954-1970,” History Matters LLC (2010) Inspection and Survey Report, Property of Loudoun County School Board (1940) Chain of Title for Land of “Colored School in Ashburn”