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Historical Highway MarkersCape Charles Elementary SchoolWY-73
Local African American activism led to the construction of this school in 1929. Financial support came from the Rosenwald Fund, established in 1917 after Booker T. Washington partnered with Julius Rosenwald in a campaign to build schools for Black students in the rural South. The local African American community, the Town of Cape Charles, and the State Literary Fund also contributed. Staffed by three teachers and a principal/teacher, the school housed grades one through seven and was a center for educational, social, and cultural events. Under Principal Jesse L. Hare, the school closed in 1966 when Northampton County Schools were consolidated four years before their desegregation.
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References/Bibliographic Citation: Preserving Rosenwald Schools, by Mary Hoffschelle for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2003; Landmarks—Black Historic Sites on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, by Frances B. Latimer, 2006; “Cape Charles School”, Rosenwald Database, by Fisk University, 2001; Rosenwald Schools in Virginia Multiple Property Documentation Form, by Bryan Clark Green for DHR, 2003; Personal interviews with alumni, former teachers, and administrators of the Cape Charles Colored School, conducted from November 2009-July 2010. |