Princess Anne County Training School

In the 1930s, the African American community rallied together over the issue of Princess Anne County not having a black high school. Their efforts resulted in what we know today as the Princess Anne County Training School/Union Kempsville High School. The school started out small as nothing more than a temporary school in 1934; however, in 1938, a four-classroom high school was built, and by 1962, several additions had been made, resulting in an extraordinary school. While the Union Kempsville High School had its last graduating class in 1969 due to the full integration of schools, this historic site has become a major landmark with a legacy that is carried with the City of Virginia Beach to this day.

In 1912, Princess Anne County had three high schools open for whites; however, for blacks, there was no educational opportunity past the seventh grade. While some blacks were able to attend Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk, very few families could afford to pay the $35 tuition. As a result, members of the black community came together on October 26, 1925, in Seatack to devise a plan for raising money and building a training school for black children. These efforts started out as the addition of grades eight through eleven, but in 1938 the first black high school opened. 

       Up until the 1960s, Union Kempsville High School was known as the Princess Anne County Training School. The “training school” featured a curriculum full of agriculture and industrial education, which prepared students for their real-world job experiences. The school started out with just a principal’s office, a library, an assembly room, four classrooms, and four staff members. Nevertheless, in 1953, the school was completed and had “14 classrooms, a library, a cafeteria, a 526-seat auditorium, a gymnasium, a home economics facility, an industrial arts area, a band room, a science room, a principal’s office, and boys’ and girls' restrooms.” (Princess Anne County Training School-Union Kempsville High School). 

       The 1960s was a decade of changes, challenges, and compromise. The Civil Rights Movement had just started about 6 years earlier, which began a change in the lives of black citizens. One of those changes was the name of the Princess Anne County Training School. After a lot of discussion and compromise, the black citizens of Princess Anne County decided that the only black high school should no longer be called a “training” school. That compromise led to the school being renamed the Kempsville Union High School. As the 1960s progressed, further advancements towards equal rights were made and Union Kempsville High School was closed as the federal mandate for desegregation was carried out by the City of Virginia Beach.

        A museum which shares stories of family, community, sacrifice, and the importance of education highlighting the school is located within Virginia Beach City Public Schools' Renaissance Academy.

City of Virginia Beach Web Team. “Princess Anne County Training School/Union Kempsville High School Museum.” Virginia Beach History Museums - Princess Anne County Training School/Union Kempsville High School Museum, https://www.museumsvb.org/museums/union-kempsville-museum 

“'The Last Walk': Princess Anne County Training School/Union Kempsville ...” "The Last Walk": Princess Anne County Training School/Union Kempsville, http://www.pacts-ukhs.org/uploads/4/5/9/4/4594623/the_last_walk_2007.pdf 

Lucas, Joanne H. “The History of Princess Anne County Training School and Union Kempsville High School Princess Anne County/Virginia Beach, Virginia 1925-1969.” Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, ProQuest LLC, 2014, pp. 1–24. 

“Princess Anne County Training School-Union Kempsville High School.” Princess Anne County Training School-Union Kempsville High School, http://www.pacts-ukhs.org