Ralph Bunche High School

Named after noted 20th-century African American political scientist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ralph Bunche (1904-1971), Ralph Bunche High School was built in 1949 directly as a result of a court case that sought to address the lack of investment in the schools for African American children during the era of explicit racial segregation in King George County. The case—Margaret Smith, et al v. School Board of King George County, Virginia, et al—challenged the county's failed implementation of the "separate but equal" doctrine, which stipulated that schools and other public facilities could be segregated as long as they were equal in all respects. This was not the case in King George County. The construction of Ralph Bunche High School, which featured a gym, library, heating and plumbing, and other amenities that were lacking in the previous school, was an early achievement in the struggle to improve the lives of African Americans in Virginia and throughout the South. As of 2023, the building is vacant but an effort is underway to restore it.

In the 1896 U.S. Supreme Court case, Plessy vs. Ferguson, the court declared that the doctrine of "separate but equal" was constitutional and did not violate the 14th Amendment. The concept had been already been implemented in the decades after the Civil War but the court's ruling paved the way for more discriminatory laws. In practice, facilities and public areas designated for African American were seldom equal. To begin challenging segregation, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), decided to focus on discrimination in education. This would be the first step in the organization's long-term goal of complete desegregation.

In King George County before the Ralph Bunche High School was built, the two existing African American schools were wholly inadequate. The Lambs Creek School was a small, one-room building shared by children of all grades and only teacher. It had a wood-burning stove and water had to be carried in from wells. The King George Training School (it was also known as simply the Training School), built in 1916, was bigger but lacked indoor plumbing, bathrooms, gym, and a heating system. Its books were often of no use and the laboratory equipment was either lacking or of poor quality. It was also not accredited since it did not have 12th grade.

With the help of the NAACP, attorneys Martin A. Martin and Oliver H. Hill took legal action against the county school board on behalf of the local African American residents. They filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on October 22, 1946. Titled "Civil Action 631," it set in motion a long legal battle that came to a head in July 1948 when U.S. District Court Judge Sterling Hutchinson ruled the county board "unlawfully discriminated...against Negro school children." The ruling ordered county to immediately improve the Training School. Despite this order, the county failed to do so. For example, during an inspection of the school in September 1948, it was discovered that the county delivered 2,000 books that were catalogues, training manuals, or in foreign languages. Nor were efforts made to improve the indoor plumbing, gym, or the heating system.

The failure to make these and other changes prompted the lawyers to file a contempt of court motion. As a result, the judge scheduled a hearing in October for the superintendent and the school board. Before it took place, however, the superintendent and board members submitted a request to another judge asking to have a special election for $150,000 bond to build a new African American school. Residents voted in favor of the measure in a referendum on November 6.

Ralph Bunche High School opened in September 1949 and was a vast improvement over the Training School. It featured modern facilities on par with the white high school and quickly became the center of the African American community. By then, Ralph Bunche was a nationally known figure. The first African American to earn a PhD in political science from an American university (Harvard, 1934), he was a professor at Howard University and worked for the U.S. State Department in various capacities. He also served as chief mediator for the United Nations, leading the negotiations that ended the 1947 Arab-Israeli War. It was for this achievement that he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950. Bunche was invited to the opening of the school but could not attend.

The school closed in 1968 when integration was finally implemented in Virginia, four years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. A new integrated school—the King George Consolidated High School—was built. The former Ralph Bunche High School became an integrated kindergarten in the 1970s. It then became a vocational school, law enforcement offices, and housed the office of the superintendent. Attempts have been made to restore it and the most recent effort began in 2022.

Associated Press. "Historic Virginia High School Considered for Renovations." US News July 24, 2023. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/virginia/articles/2022-07-24/historic-virginia-high-school-considered-for-renovations.

Pollard, Marcus R. "Ralph Bunche High School." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. May 01, 2006. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41681432.

"Ralph Bunche High School." The Historical Marker Database. Accessed June 9, 2023. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=76409.

"The Road to Desegregation in King George County." Ralph Bunche Alumni Association. Accessed June 9, 2023. https://www.rbaa1949.org/history/