The Race & Education in Virginia archive provides original source materials for students and teachers interested in public schools during the Great Depression. These materials, including newspaper and periodical articles, texts from state reports on education, statistics on schooling, and photographs and other visual sources, provide important evidence about segregated schooling in Virginia during a decade of crisis and change. These materials are drawn from a range of publications, including:
- Virginia Teachers’ Bulletin, published by the African-American Virginia Teachers’ Association
- African-American newspapers from this decade, the Richmond Planet and Norfolk Journal & Guide
- Newspapers published in various cities, such as the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Alexandria Gazette, Roanoke Times, and Virginia Pilot
the Superintendent’s Reports published by the state department of education, and
- Photographs from the Farm Securities Administration and other collections.
These materials are designed for use by students and teachers seeking original source materials to illustrate the differences between African-American and white schools, the struggles of African-American educators for improved school conditions, the differences between communities due to race as well as socio-economic status, the impact of the Depression on segregated schools, and the moblization of public opinion behind the campaign for educational equality. For more information on classroom applications of these materials, see also the Educational Modules.
The archive has different ways to access the materials:
- To find materials by year, county and city, source, or keyword categories., click on the Browse by county, year, keyword, and / or source link to the left.
- To see all the materials in the archive, click on the list all pages link to the left.
- To search for a particular term in the texts in the archive, use the search box.
This project is made possible by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, as part of its African American Heritage Program, which includes activities designed to increase public understanding and appreciation of African American history in Virginia. The views and opinions expressed in this project do not necessarily represent those of Virginia Tech or the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. For more information about the VFH, please visit the website: www.virginiafoundation.org.
The Race & Education archive is hosted by the Department of History at Virginia Tech. Additional funding has been provided by the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.
Project Directors:
Tom Ewing, Associate Professor, Department of History, Virginia Tech
Jane Lehr, Assistant Professor, Ethnic Studies and Women’s Studies Programs, California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo
Assistant Project Directors:
David Hicks
Melissa Lisanti
Advisory Faculty:
Peter Wallenstein
Research Assistants:
Robert Murray
Paul Lee
Transcribers:
Emily Bibby
Thomas Casey
Graphic Designer:
Jesse Sherman
Bookkeeper:
Susan Archer
Junior Content Contributor:
Claire Ewing-Nelson
