Institution

Built by William and Annie Washington, freed slaves, between 1863 and 1874. The land whereupon the home was built was given to Annie by her former owner, Susan Blue Parsons of the Wappocomo planation. William later acquired more land in northern Romney and became the first African-American land developer in West Virginia.&nbsp;One of the&nbsp;current subdivisions of the "Black Hills" neighborhood came from land he owned and is adjacent to his homestead. Decades later, Romney attorney, Ralph W. Haines, bought and restored the home. Currently, the Hampshire County Historical Society is working on a section for William Washington in the "Black History" portion of their website. Beyond that, more information is desired for this home.

More Info

This was the first home to be built by free slaves following the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation in Hampshire County, WV. 

Washington Place

This digital story map of West Virginia includes twenty locations that are significant landmarks of African American history. Highlights of this educational resource include colleges and high schools that served Black communities during the era of segregation, statues to influential Americans such as historian Carter G. Woodson and mathematician Katherine Johnson, the monument to John Henry, and the site of the Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster.  

Storer College developed out of movements in the nineteenth century to provide freed slaves with basic skills and further teacher education. Prior to the Civil War, free and enslaved Blacks faced a range of legal and social obstacles to gain basic skills such as such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. With the Thirteenth Amendment ending slavery in 1865, millions of freedpeople sought access to training, skills, and a new sense of self-worth after slavery. Furthermore, education was an important tool for navigating the complex world of Jim Crow, which continued to restrict and suppress African American activities. Missionary organizations established schools across the country so that former slaves could gain skills they were previously denied. In 1865, Rev. Nathan Brackett of the Freewill Baptist Home Mission Society of New England opened one such school in the Lockwood House, previously the Armory Paymaster’s House, on Camp Hill in Harpers Ferry. The town of Harpers Ferry had been devastated by numerous Union and Confederate occupations during the Civil War. Still, its convenient location, transportation systems, and history of slave insurrection made it an attractive place for freedpeople to settle. In the postwar era, Blacks comprised 25% of the population in Harpers Ferry. The school was soon overwhelmed, with only sixteen teachers to educate some 2,500 students. To alleviate this problem, Brackett sought to establish a school to train African American teachers. This action is part of the broader "normal school" movement, named for the "norms" that primary teachers instilled in their young students, flourished in the mid to late nineteenth century.In 1867, a philanthropist from Maine named John Storer offered to provide the Freewill Baptists with $10,000 to establish a teaching school provided that three conditions were met: that the Baptists match the $10,000; that the school eventually develop into a four-year college; and that the school had to be open to all applicants regardless of race or gender. The Freewill Baptists accepted the offer, raised $10,000 and opened the Storer Normal School on October 2, 1867, with nineteen students. At the time, it was the only teacher school for African Americans in West Virginia. The school was initially very unpopular among the white residents of Harpers Ferry, with incidents of slander, vandalism, and harassment of teachers.  In 1881, Frederick Douglass, who was on the Board of Trustees, delivered a speech on John Brown in front of the college's Anthony Memorial Hall. Also in attendance was Andrew Hunter, the Charles Town District Attorney who had prosecuted and convicted John Brown.In August of 1906, the second conference of the Niagara Movement, led by W.E.B. DuBois to end racial discrimination, was held at Storer.  By meeting at Harpers Ferry, the Niagara Movement acknowledged the symbolic importance of John Brown's slave insurrection and the continued fight for Black freedom. At the meeting, DuBois appealed for the right to vote, the end of public discrimination, justice, the "right to walk, talk and be" with others without interference, and the "federal government to step in and white out illiteracy."1 The Niagara Movement countered Booker T. Washington's calls for assimilation while advocating for civil rights without aggression or militant actions. The National Park Service calls this meeting at Storer "cornerstone of the modern civil rights era."2 In 1909, the group would develop into the NAACP.In 1909, Storer College bought the armory engine house, also known as John Brown’s Fort, which had been moved around several times. It was placed on the college campus and used as a museum. In 1968, the National Park Service moved the fort back near to its original location in the Lower Town.While Storer remained primarily a teaching school, it began offering additional courses, industrial training, and academic degrees. Storer was officially designated a four-year college in 1938. It was never accredited, however, and was forced to turn away some graduate applicants due to a lack of funds. Around this time, enrollment peaked at about 400 students.During its final years Storer College experienced financial troubles and a dwindling enrollment. In 1954, following the ruling desegregating schools in Brown v. Board of Education, the state of West Virginia withdrew financial support for the school. With no other available options, Storer was forced to close in 1956. Physical assets of the college were transferred to the Baptist (and historically white) Alderson-Broaddus College along with scholarship endowments for Black students. Storer's endowment was transferred to the all-Black Virginia Union University and maintained by VUU and Howard University, another historic Black university. In 1960, the campus of Storer College became part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Because Harpers Ferry is also home to the National Park Service's interpretive center, some of Storer College's buildings are used for tours or educational training. The most prominent building is Anthony Memorial Hall, built in 1881 on a scenic hill overlooking campus. A fire in 1927 left only the brick walls standing and it was restored shortly after. Today, Anthony Memorial Hall is an education center that bears the name of Stephen T. Mather, a businessman and conservationist who became the first director of the National Park Service. Over the years, a number of Storer College structures, such as dorms, a basketball court, and a science building, have been razed to make space for private homes or National Park Service facilities. The former college football field and horticultural lands, located west of Anthony Memorial Hall, are now forested.Annual reunions for Storer alumni are also still held on the campus. Prominent alumni include J. R. Clifford, the first Black lawyer in West Virginia and owner of the state’s first Black newspaper; Coralie Franklin Cook, a professor at Howard University and descendant of the Monticello slaves; Joseph Jeffrey Walters, author of the first African novel published in English, Guyana Pau; jazz musician Don Redman; and Nnamdi Azikiwe, president of the short-lived First Nigerian Republic.

Storer College was the first African American college in West Virginia. The institution was established by the Free Will Baptist church as a school for formerly enslaved person during the Civil War. In 1867, Storer was incorporated by the state as a school for African Americans under the leadership of the Rev. Nathan C. Brackett. Storer educated over 7,000 students in its nearly ninety-year history, including many prominent educators, lawyers, doctors, and politicians. The Storer College campus is now part of Harpers Ferry National Historic Park and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Anthony Memorial Hall is the most prominent building on campus and, like many of the Storer buildings that stand today, is used as an education center for the National Park Service.

Storer College 

&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Before West Virginia was formed out of Virginia, the Underground Railroad ran through what is now Parsons, West Virginia. Runaway slaves would make their way north via some of the most rugged mountains in the state. One of those hills is called Darkish Knob, and it still looms large over the town of Parsons due to its rich history. &nbsp; &nbsp; During Civil War times, a small house was built into the base of Darkish Knob for runaway slaves to take refuge on their path to freedom. Legend has it, that one night a young girl was riding her horse along the rocky terrain trying to locate the house. She was being chased by slave owners and her horse, startled, lost its footing and flung her off its back and down the mountain to her death in&nbsp;the Cheat River below.&nbsp; <blockquote>Many residents in the years following the girl’s death, spoke of the Darkish Knob as a sinister and evil filled place. Several unafraid people who have explored the location have “sensed” a presence in the area of the steep overgrown pathway. The ghostly image of the unnamed young girl is said to return to the top of the hill every year on the eve of the date of her death. The ghostly moans and cries of the slave girl are audible for several minutes before a terrifying scream is heard as the moment of her death approaches.1</blockquote>&nbsp; &nbsp; To this day, Darkish Knob is rumored to be haunted by this girl who supposedly lets out loud moans and wails through the night, still trying to find that house. Darkish Knob is routinely listed as one of the most haunted locations in West Virginia, and ghost hunters come from across the country to try to catch a glimpse of the paranormal, much to the chagrin of the locals.&nbsp;

Darkish Knob is an imposing hill in Parsons, WV that many locals believe to be haunted by a young slave girl who fell to her demise here. During Civil War times, many runaway slaves traveled through what is now West Virginia on their way to find freedom. The Underground Railroad ran through Parsons, and a small hidden refuge was placed at the base of Darkish Knob. Supposedly, a young girl lost her way trying to find the hidden shelter and fell to her death on the rocks below. The Cheat River at the base of Darkish Knob washed her away, but locals still claim to hear her cries on the anniversary of her death. 

Darkish Knob

In the early 20th century, the African American population in Monongalia County grew rapidly. In 1900, the county possessed a Black population of under 300, but by 1930, over 2,300 African Americans called the county home. As the Black population grew over the course of a few decades, so too did demand for secondary education for Black citizens. In 1917, the first high school for Black students opened its doors on Beechhurst Avenue in downtown Morgantown. By the 1930s, it was apparent that a larger space for the growing Black student body was needed and Black leaders began making the case for a larger and more modern facility. In the 1930s, local Black leader and educator Dewey Fox spearheaded an effort to create a new high school for the all the county's Black students. Fox secured a plot of land in Westover for the purpose. "I am determined," Fox declared, "that the Negroes of this County shall not be discriminated against any long in things educational." Despite opposition from white Westover residents, plans were drawn up for Monongalia High School and Fox reached out in search of funding. Fox found support through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal organization established by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1935. Hoping to lift the United States out of the Great Depression, the WPA and several other New Deal agencies offered direct employment to Americans through the construction of various infrastructure projects, such as roads, bridges, parks, and schools. In Monongalia County, WPA funds contributed to the construction of Monongalia High School and several other primary schools. On May 27, 1938, Eleanor Roosevelt (President Franklin Roosevelt's wife) spoke at Monongalia High's dedication ceremony. After the ceremony, she reflected that, "With the cooperation of WPA, [local African Americans] finally have an adequate building in which they should do very good work, particularly if the entire community cooperates in the way which their attendance at the ceremonies this morning indicated." Monongalia served as the only African American high school in Monongalia County, and students were drawn from all over the county and also from parts of neighboring Preston County. The school provided a sense of community and pride to local African Americans. Despite its status as a smaller, less established program than other Black schools across West Virginia, the Monongalia High "Bulldogs" enjoyed several state championships. The won the state football championship in 1940 and the basketball championship in 1946. In 1954, integration came to Monongalia County in the wake of the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board decision, and Monongalia High integrated with nearby Morgantown High School. Only a few of the African-American teachers at Monongalia High retained jobs within the local school system. The former high school served as the Westover Junior High for several decades. Memories of Monongalia High remain within the local African American community, and many former Bulldogs belong to the Beechhurst-Monongalia High School Alumni Association. The Association spearheaded an effort for a memorial marker to Monongalia High, which was erected in 2014.

As the Black population of Monongalia County grew rapidly in the early 1900s, local Black educator and leader Dewey Cox led an effort to establish a large, permanent high school for local African American students. Dedicated by Eleanor Roosevelt in 1938, Monongalia High School served as Monongalia County's only African American high school until 1954, when the county school system was integrated. The school provided both education and a sense of community to African American families in Morgantown and the surrounding areas. The school was also a significant source of employment for Black teachers, many of whom were not retained by the school district after integration. 

Monongalia High School (1938-1954)

The original school for African American students in Harrison County was established in 1866 when&nbsp;the state law to establish free schools for Black and white students was passed.&nbsp; <blockquote>"In 1867, the Freedmans Bureau donated $200 to purchase bricks for the school.&nbsp; In October 1867, the Clarksburg independent District Board of Free Schools purchased a lot near the IOOF cemetery on West Main Street from Ira W. Hart.&nbsp; In May of 1868, Ira Hart was selected to build the first school, with final costs mounting to $1417.17."1</blockquote>The school opened in 1870, but due to growing enrollment and need for more staff the school was moved to a new&nbsp;location in 1902.Kelly Miller High School operated in this location&nbsp;from 1903 until the public school system was integrated in&nbsp;1956, and it's student body was absorbed into other public high schools. Kelly Miller High School was recognized throughout the state of West Virginia for having strong academic and athletic programs. The school added a gymnasium and auditorium in 1919, and also hired a local West Virginian, E.B. Saunders, as principal.&nbsp;Kelly Miller was certified by the North Central Association of High Schools and Colleges, and the graduates have excelled in professional, business, managerial, sports, arts and technical fields. Kelly Miller, the school's namesake, was a prominent African-American mathematician, essayist, sociologist, newspaper columnnist and author. Born in Winnsboro, South Carolina in 1863, he became the first African-American to enter John Hopkins University. Later, he would become a professor at Howard University. Miller&nbsp;has been considered "The Bard of the Potomac."2 After the reunion of Kelly Miller High School in 1984, Kelly Miller alumni began the Kelly Miller Foundation in 1985. The Foundation provides opportunities for needy youth&nbsp;who&nbsp;want&nbsp;to further their education or seek vocational training.

Kelly Miller High School, located in Clarksburg, West Virginia, was established in this location in 1903 as a school for African American children. The school was named after Kelly Miller, an African American scholar. Kelly Miller High School closed in 1956 when integration began to take place and the Kelly Miller student body was absorbed into other public high schools. The school's namesake, Kelly Miller, was the first African American to attend Johns Hopkins University. The Kelly Miller School building now houses the Harrison County Board of Education. Today there is a Kelly Miller Foundation administered by alumni, and provides scholarships to students in need. 



Kelly Miller High School

Like many of the counties in what became West Virginia, Doddridge County largely lacked the sizable plantations that characterized agriculture in the eastern half of Virginia prior to the American Civil War. As a result, few residents in the area owned slaves. The largest slaveholder in the county in 1860 was Frank Maxwell, who claimed six slaves in the census of that year. Maxwell’s neighbors and fellow Doddridge County citizens were primarily small landholders operating family farms and other businesses, among them a burgeoning timber industry that eventually grew to be one of the largest employers in the area. Because few of the county’s residents were personally or directly invested in the institution of slavery a majority opposed secession in the May 23, 1861 referendum in Virginia that resulted in that state’s exit from the Union, a majority that reportedly numbered somewhere between 500 and 600 votes. Prior to that event, the county’s loose connections to slavery also made it an ideal thoroughfare for runaway slaves fleeing Virginia for the free north along the Salem and Harrisville Turnpike. That road, completed in 1852, ran directly through Jepthah Fitz Randolph’s property in Doddridge County as a direct result of his personal lobbying. Jepthah Fitz Randolph was born in 1814 in Salem, Harrison County, to Jonathan Fitz Randolph and Mary Davis. Two decades later, at the age of 21, he married Deborah Sutton, and settled near her childhood home in Greenbrier Run, Doddridge County, to start a family. By the time they made the decision to migrate westward in 1844, they had four children, who accompanied their parents on the wagon journey to Milton in what is now southern Wisconsin. Jepthah and Deborah chose Milton because its founder, Joseph Goodrich, and many of its inhabitants were of the Seventh Day Baptist faith like themselves. The Seventh Day Baptists were staunch abolitionists, a conviction that culminated in their declaring slavery a sin and proclaiming the fight against it a moral obligation for all members of the denomination in 1854. Goodrich and the other citizens of Milton answered their church’s call: Goodrich’s Milton House Inn, where the Fitz Randolph’s stayed before purchasing land in the town, had a tunnel beneath it for concealing runaway slaves on their journey towards Canada. The Fitz Randolphs carried this example with them on their return journey to western Virginia, which they made the following year after Jepthah became dissatisfied with his land there and sold it for wheat. After living in Salem for two years Jepthah purchased land in Doddridge County at the confluence of Meathouse Fork and Tom’s Fork. Shortly thereafter he lobbied for the construction of a post office nearby and was appointed its postmaster, a position that gave him the power to choose a new name for the community. He chose New Milton.Jepthah also leveraged his local influence to determine the course of the planned turnpike from Salem to Harrisville. That road, completed in 1852, ran straight through his property. By 1855, he had completed his family’s new home on that property, a brick, two-story, Federal-style structure with nooks, crannies, and crawlspaces hidden throughout. The Fitz Randolphs used these hiding places to secrete runaway slaves as they passed through Doddridge County via the Salem and Harrisville Turnpike on their way to the free north. After leaving the Fitz Randolph’s house, runaway slaves may have stayed at one of the other Underground Railroad stops in Doddridge County before continuing westward toward Harrisville. From there, they most likely went on to Parkersburg before crossing over into Ohio where other Underground Railroad conductors would guide them on their journey through free territory patrolled by slave catchers and possibly on to Canada where a more certain liberty awaited them. While that leg of the trek has received considerable attention, however, slaves’ flight through the unfree South with the aid of Underground Railroad conductors living in slave territory has been given much less attention. The presence of structures like the Fitz Randolph House in New Milton both complicates the narrative of a solid South in which every resident supported the institution of slavery while reemphasizing that anti-slavery advocates in that region were truly in the minority. The Fitz Randolphs were not alone in their fight against the institution but they certainly had few compatriots, and their actions risked both social and legal consequences.

The Federal-style brick structure at the confluence of Tom’s Fork and Meathouse Fork outside of New Milton, West Virginia was originally the home of Jepthah Fitz Randolph and his family. After marrying Doddridge County native Deborah Sutton in 1836, Jepthah and his new wife moved to Milton, Wisconsin in 1844 before returning to this area the following year and constructing their new home some time in the next decade. Because they were Seventh Day Baptists, a denomination that staunchly opposed slavery, the Jepthah and Deborah were noted local abolitionists. Their opposition to the institution went so far, in fact, that the couple provided their home as a haven for runaway slaves fleeing to freedom in the north as part of the Underground Railroad. After serving in this capacity until the American Civil War, the Fitz Randolph House remained Jepthah and Deborah’s home until their deaths. It continues to be privately owned today.

Fitz Randolph House

Charles William Warfield, Sr was a scholar,
professor, and school principal with a determination to educate and uplift the
African-American community through education.&nbsp; Born in Harpers Ferry in
1870, Mr. Warfield devoted his life to training Black teachers and educating
Black children.&nbsp; Mr. Warfield served as a professor of English at Storer
College and Bluefield State College.&nbsp; In 1917, Mr. Warfield left Storer
College and became the principal of a new African-American school in
Buckhannon.&nbsp; In his time in Buckhannon, he passionately championed the
cause of African-American education.&nbsp; According to Buckhannon mayor David
McCauley, Charles William Warfield Sr, “was the first Black principal of our
first Black school (in Buckhannon).&nbsp; We basically didn’t have Black
education prior to his arrival in 1917.”&nbsp;&nbsp;Over the past three years, Buckhannon mayor
David McCauley and the town leadership have made a concerted effort to honor
the lives and legacies of prominent African-Americans who lived in Buckhannon
&nbsp;On the third annual Diversity Appreciation Day on October 15, the town
unveiled an historic marker and dedicated a street, “Warfield Way” in the heart
of a former African-American neighborhood.&nbsp; Beside the “Warfield Way”
street sign is a marker that details Charles William Warfield Sr.’s
accomplishments and contributions to the town of Buckhannon.&nbsp; In an
interview with WDTV 5, Mayor McCauley explains that Buckhannon is, “Engaging in
some atonement for the past and recognizing the many wonderful benefits that (African-
Americans) brought to our community.” &nbsp;Another prominent African-American
honored on a previous Diversity Appreciation Day was Arnett W. “Ace” Mumford, a
notable Southern football coach born in Buckhannon.&nbsp; This memorial to
Charles William Warfield Sr. is part of a town wide initiative to acknowledge
and appreciate diversity.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

At the dedication of
“Warfield Way,” one of his descendants, Charles WIlliam Warfield III, noted
that Charles William Warfield Sr. was known for expecting the best from
everyone.&nbsp; Mr. Warfield Sr. insisted that his family dress in formal
attire for every meal, that children contribute to the adult conversations at
the dinner table, and that they always use proper grammar.&nbsp; According to
Mr. Warfield III, his grandfather’s insistence on excellence helped make it
possible for his posterity to succeed.&nbsp; One of Mr. Warfield Sr.’s sons
became the first African-American to graduate from the Ohio State University’s
College of Law, and all of his descendants served as educators for at least
part of their professional careers.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Dedicated in 2017, this marker commemorates the life of professor and principal Charles William Warfield Sr. Born in Harper’s Ferry in 1870, Warfield devoted his life to training Black teachers and educating Black children in this West Virginia. Warfield served as a professor of English at Storer College and Bluefield State College until 1917, when he became a principal of a new African American school in Buckhannon. At the dedication ceremony, Buckhannon mayor David McCauley indicated that there was no educational opportunity for African Americans in the city prior to Warfield's arrival. Records of Black education in West Virginia challenge this statement, as Black children were able to attend area schools that were established in area communities such as Weston that date back to the early years of Reconstruction. Carter Woodson's research indicates that E. L. Morton was the principal of a school for African Americans over a decade prior to Warfield's arrival. Although the mayor's statement claiming that there were no schools for African Americans prior to 1917 is inaccurate, he is correct to credit Warfield and other teachers who created better opportunities for Black children and families in Buckhannon. 

Charles William Warfield, Sr. Historical Marker

The new state of West Virginia was faced with the issue of educating African Americans following the end of the Civil War and slavery. Initial efforts came during and immediately after the war with missionaries and the U.S. Freedmen’s Bureau operating a number of private schools for African Americans of all ages. A law passed by the West Virginia state legislature in 1867 allowed the creation of public schools for African Americans if there were at least fifteen students to attend. A new state constitution ratified in 1872 mandated that African Americans be provided with educational opportunities, but also required them to attend separate schools from whites. From then until the Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954, school segregation was an official policy in West Virginia.The African American population in Wayne County has historically been small; at its peak there were less than three dozen families. These included the Spiller, Harris, Dickerson, Mullen, Lower, Pogue, and Hamby families in Ceredo. Only a handful of African American schools were established in the county during the entire history of segregation. The earliest known one opened in 1870 near present day Fort Gay. Another was built around 1872 near the town of Wayne. A school in Ceredo was built sometime afterwards, with one source stating the date as 1875. A mixture of both Black and white teachers were hired to teach the schools over the years; many of them came from Ohio due to shortages of teachers in West Virginia.Very little is known about the school in Ceredo, referred to in documents merely as the Ceredo Colored School. The schoolhouse was located at the 1400 block of B Street at the eastern end of Ceredo near where the flood wall stands today. The only people known to have taught at the school were Ezra Mullen and Jessie Pogue. In Carter G. Woodson’s article “Early Negro Education in West Virginia,” Pogue was described as “a woman of ambition and efficiency” and during her tenure the school “accomplished much good and exerted an influence throughout that county.” The school taught students up to the eighth grade. Those who sought further education could attend Douglas High School in nearby Huntington. In addition to holding classes, the schoolhouse on B Street was also used as a church and meeting place for the African American community.The number of students at the B Street school was always small, and began to decrease over the years as most of Ceredo’s African American families moved away, many to Huntington. Around the early 1930s the B Street school closed and students were transferred to a new African American school on Seegar Hill, an area at the intersection of James River Road and Hubbards Branch Road. The Seegar Hill school had previously been for white students; when it became African American, white students in the area were transferred to either Ceredo Elementary School or a newly-built school in Westmoreland.The Seegar Hill school was short-lived, and closed by the early 1940s. By that point enrollment had become so low that the school board found it more economical to have the remaining African American students transported to school in Huntington every day and pay for their dinners. The B Street schoolhouse meanwhile had been sold by the school board after its closure and was converted into a residence. It fell into a state of disrepair over the next few decades and was eventually destroyed by fire around 1970. According to local lore, a man living next to the building attended a town council meeting to complain that the structure, now abandoned, was an eyesore. Mayor Mose Napier was reputed to have replied “If the building was next to my house I would burn it down.” The schoolhouse burned down the next morning.

During the 1880s, school leaders in Ceredo approved the construction of a small frame schoolhouse for African American children that operated until the 1930s at this location. The school was one of several in Wayne County that were attended by African American children during the era of segregation. The schoolhouse also served as a church and meeting place for members of Ceredo's African American community. School officials decided to close the school sometime in the early 1930s. The closure of the school was not a result of integration, as state law prohibited interracial education prior to the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown vs Board, but rather owing to declining enrollment. This change was the result of African American families moving from the community, with the majority of those families deciding to move to nearby Huntington. After the closure of this school, the Ceredo School Board paid to operate a bus that transported the remaining African American students to schools in Westmoreland and Huntington. The schoolhouse was later converted into a private residence, and was destroyed by fire in the early 1970s.

Ceredo Colored School (1880s-1930s) 

Memphis Tennessee Carter was born in Hollins, Virginia, in March 1890 and was the daughter of enslaved persons. Her family moved to Gary, West Virginia, before her eighth birthday and Carter grew up in the southern West Virginia coalfields. Her mother washed laundry, cleaned houses, and watched children and her brother worked in the mines. She attended grade school in a one-room schoolhouse. In the evenings, she taught her mother and brother how to read and write. She moved to Ohio to continue her education as there were no high schools in the area that admitted African Americans at the time. She graduated from high school in 1908 and returned to southern West Virginia to work as a teacher. She obtained a BA from Bluefield State College and continued to further her education at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.  In 1918, Memphis Tennessee Carter married William Garrison and changed her name to Memphis Tennessee Garrison. They couple never had children.During a time when women were less likely to afforded the opportunity to fill leadership roles, Garrison stepped into the role as one her community's leading advocates. While living in McDowell County, West Virginia, which was home to one of the richest coalfields in the United States and home to U.S. Steel, Garrison arbitrated labor and race issues between the community and the coal bosses. From 1931 to 1946, Garrison worked as a mediator and welfare worker for U.S. Steel. She also worked to provide recreational opportunities for the local African American community and organized a pool, park, and entertainment. She left the company after the United Mine Workers’ of America organized the U.S. Steel. Once, the miners began to form unions, Garrison’s role in the company became more informal as the union took on many of the roles and responsibilities for representing mine families that had once belonged to Garrison. During this same time, she was becoming more committed to the NAACP and efforts that were taking place outside of her hometown of Gary, West Virginia.Garrison began teaching in 1908 and did not retire until the 1950s. During the Great Depression, she made sure her students were fed. Garrison understood that students could not learn adequately on an empty stomach. She also took education outside the school walls and educated the coalfield community. Garrison brought explorers, plays, and music to Gary exposing the community to different types of culture.  Garrison’s commitment to her students and the young Black population is what inspired her to organize. She was able to create an agenda that motivated both men and women, Black and white. When the Black teachers of West Virginia were organized into the West Virginia State Teachers’ Association, Garrison was the first woman to be elected as the organization's president (1929-1930) and also served as chairman of the board. In 1931, she was elected vice president of the American Teachers' Association.  In 1918, she heard about the NAACP, and by 1921, she had established a branch in Gary. Soon after, she started the Christmas seal fundraiser for the Gary branch. The fundraiser was so successful that it was soon adopted by the national office and became one of the NAACP’s most important fundraisers. She also helped establish branches in other towns in southern West Virginia, assisted in forming the State NAACP Conference, and served as the state treasurer for two years. She often traveled on behalf of the NAACP to solve disputes, establish new branches, and implement membership drives and scholarships. From 1956-1959, she was the NAACP National Field Secretary. Garrison also served as the national vice president of the NAACP Board of Directors from 1964 to 1966.  She was also involved in politics. She supported school desegregation before Brown v. Brown and worked to enforce integration after the Supreme Court case. In addition, she campaigned for voting reform. In 1944, she spoke to the U.S. Senate regarding need to abolish poll taxes. She served as the Chairperson of the Colored Women’s Division of the Republican Party and was a member of the Woman Advisory Committee for Colored Voters. Between 1963 and 1966, she was a member of the West Virginia Human Rights Commission. Demonstrating how she and many other African Americans shifted parties during a time of political realignment, in 1964 Garrison was a member of President Johnson’s National Citizens Committee on Community Relations.In 1952, Garrison moved to Huntington, West Virginia and soon after helped to establish a Black Girl Scout troop in the city. While in Huntington, she inspired a new generation of Black youth. She also worked as a substitute teacher, continued to serve in local, state, and national NAACP positions, and remained active in civic issues.Memphis Tennessee Garrison died on July 25, 1988 at the age of ninety-eight in Huntington, West Virginia. Throughout her life, she was honored for the work she did for the Black community and civil rights. In 1929, Garrison received the NAACP’s Madam C. J. Walker Gold Medal Award. Her achievements in and services to the civil rights movement were honored in 1959 when she was the recipient of the T. G. Nutter Award. In 1969, she received the Distinguished Service Award from the NAACP. Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia provided Garrison with an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree in 1970. She also was given the governor’s “Living the Dream” Award in 1988. Today, Garrison's home is owned and maintained by local citizens with the goal of converting the home into a community museum.

This small frame house was home to Memphis Tennessee Garrison, a leader in the African American community who served as one of the vice presidents of the NAACP. Garrison spent the majority of her life living in rural Appalachia. After teaching in a one-room school in Gary, West Virginia, she retired to Huntington. She worked to secure resources for schools, supported local civil rights initiatives, and became a vice president of the NAACP. Garrison lived at this home from the 1950s until the 1980s. During those years, she opened her home to many in the community. She also used the home to host numerous meetings where leaders of the African American community came together to discuss their challenges and propose solutions. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in January 2017 and is being preserved by community leaders who hope to turn the home into a community museum.

Memphis Tennessee Garrison House

Carter G. Woodson was born in Buckingham County, Virginia, on December 19, 1875, where he grew up working on a farm. Carter’s family temporarily moved to Fayette County, West Virginia, in the 1880s so that his father could work in the railroad industry, and he and his brother could work in the coal mines. In 1895, when Carter was 20 years old, he enrolled in high school at Frederick Douglass High School and completed all the coursework required to graduate in just two years. After graduating in 1897, Carter attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, but graduated from Berea College in Kentucky in 1903. Berea had been a higher education institution established by abolitionists in the 1850s with the purpose of educating ex-slaves, and Carter graduated one year before Kentucky made a law prohibiting interracial education. Carter returned to Frederick Douglass High School after graduating college to teach, and also spent four years teaching in the Philippines. Carter G. Woodson valued education more than anything in life, and believed that it was the key to transforming society, improving race relations, and benefiting the lower classes. He enrolled in the University of Chicago in 1907 to better educate himself, and graduated with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in European History; his thesis was on French diplomatic policy toward Germany in the eighteenth century. In 1909, Woodson was accepted to Harvard University and earned his Ph.D in history in 1912 with the assistance of scholarships. Woodson’s dissertation was never published, but it was on the events leading to the creation of the state of West Virginia after the Civil War broke out. After Harvard, Woodson taught in Washington until 1919 at the Armstrong and Dunbar/M Street high schools. From 1919 to 1920, Woodson was the dean of arts and sciences, professor of history, and head of the graduate program in history at Howard University. Then from 1920 to 1922, Woodson taught at the West Virginia Collegiate Institute, followed by a return to Washington to direct the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History full time.While Woodson was earning ranks in higher education, he was also still working on his passion project of spreading knowledge of African American history to all levels. The Journal of Negro History began publication in 1916, to provide a platform for works in Black history. Woodson believed that if African American history was taught at all levels it would diminish racial issues, and founded the annual celebration of Negro History Week in February 1926. The Journal of Negro History led to the creation of the Negro History Bulletin, another platform that could be used to publish African American history works, and the Negro History Week turned into what we now know at Black History Month. The Journal of Negro History was a pure form of equality; not only did the journal provide a place for Black scholars to be published, but it also provided a place for white scholars to be published when their ideas of slavery or Black history did not fit the well-known white narrative. The journal provided multiple topics on Black history such as slavery, the slave trade, Black culture, the family, religion, and antislavery and abolitionism, and included biographical articles on prominent African Americans.Negro History Week increased awareness of and interest in Black history among both Blacks and whites, and was chosen to be celebrated at that time because of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays. Each year, he sent promotional brochures and pamphlets to state boards of education, elementary and secondary schools, colleges, women's clubs, Black newspapers and periodicals, and white scholarly journals suggesting ways to celebrate. Woodson provided these institutions with primary and secondary sources to be handed out as information, and eventually Negro History Week was being celebrated in every state in America, and even reached some foreign countries.Woodson changed the way America viewed the Black population by using new sources and methods, such as census data, slave testimony, and oral history. This information made Americans realize that Blacks were not just victims of white oppression, but they were vital and major roles in America’s development. The NAACP awarded Woodson with the highest honor, the Spingarn Medal, in June 1926, because of his endless efforts to promote African American history. Woodson directed the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History until his death in 1950; today there are multiple scholarships and programs dedicated to his life and research.

Carter G. Woodson, known to many as "the Father of Black History,” was born to former slaves and worked in the mines of West Virginia before graduating from Berea College, the University of Chicago, and Harvard University, where he earned his Ph.D. Woodson believed that educating the populace about Black history had the power to transform society, improve race relations, and benefit people of all races. Woodson was educated in the segregated public schools of Huntington, West Virginia, and became the principal of his former high school after completing a teacher certification program at Kentucky's racially integrated Berea College. He went on to earn a M.A. from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. Woodson founded Negro History Week in February of 1926, and his efforts to grow this annual celebration of Black history and culture led to the creation of Black History Month. Woodson also created the Journal of Negro History and the scholarly and community organization known today as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. These institutions, together with his scholarly and popular books, journals, and articles, provided a platform for educating others about African American history with works written by Black and white scholars. Woodson was among one of the first scholars to research and publish works on slavery from the perspective of the enslaved.This statue was commemorated in 2003, and is said that Woodson's line of sight is directly pointed at the first location of Douglass High School.

Carter G. Woodson Statue

On August 25, 2018 the bronze statue of Katherine Johnson was unveiled in front of many West Virginia State University fans and Johnson's&nbsp;family and friends.&nbsp; This statue is meant to inspire students and anyone who walks by it to never give up and always try hard, especially when it comes to knowledge they are passionate about. Growing up Johnson, battled hardships as an African American woman.&nbsp; Johnson loved to learn, and did everything she could to expand her knowledge.&nbsp; Johnson stated, "I counted everything. I counted the steps to the road, the steps up to church, the number of dishes and silverware I washed … anything that could be counted, I did".&nbsp; She was born in 1918 in White Sulphur Springs. &nbsp; After she could no longer receive anymore education at fourteen years old in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, her father drove her more than 100 miles to Institute, WV so she could continue her education at West Virginia State University. She began studying math and French at the University.&nbsp; Johnson then graduated from this HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) with two college degrees at the age of eighteen. &nbsp; Johnson went on to study for her masters at West Virginia University, where she was one of the first African American students to attend.&nbsp; Her dream was to be a research mathematician, a difficult task during this time period.&nbsp; She moved to Virginia after being offered a teaching job.&nbsp; She remained teaching there for fifteen years.&nbsp; After this she became a stay-at-home mom to her three daughters, Katherine, Joylette, and Constnace. Then Johnson joined NASA in 1953 as a mathematician.&nbsp; This is when the Civil Rights movement first started to take off.&nbsp; Her outstanding calculations made it possible for the U.S. to put the first American in space in 1961.&nbsp; The following year her calculations allowed us to send John Glenn around the Earth three times.&nbsp; In the future this allowed NASA to send someone to the moon. These great attributes we're recognized in the movie 'Hidden Figures', released in January 6, 2017.&nbsp; Katherine Johnson was played by star, Taraji P. Henson. She was also presented with the "Presidential Medal of Freedom", by none other than President, Barack Obama.&nbsp; Now in the heart of West Virginia State University's campus, thanks to this new statue her legacy and drive will live on through many more years.

This statue was built to honor Katherine Johnson, an African American woman who was a mathematician for NASA.  Her calculations made it possible for the United States to put the first astronaut into space.  The statue was placed at her alma mater, West Virginia State University.  The revealing ceremony was held a day before her 100th birthday, on August 25th 2018.

Katherine Johnson Statue

Famously referred to as "The Home"
to African-American women living in Charleston to either work in the city,
obtain and education or both, the Lee Home was a multi-purpose structure. It
was a boarding house, a center for social and community events, a place to
enroll in some classes and Day Camps. Prior to 1915, Rev. Herman Francis Gow of
the St. Paul's African Methodist Episcopal Church was concerned for young
African-American women who needed housing as well as a place for social events.
Disheartened after a few years of failure, he was helped by Ms. Rebecca
Bullard, a local teacher. Together they, along with many friends and prominent
African-Americans of the area, came together and raised funds for a structure
to be built, which was completed in 1915.

The Mattie V. Lee home was established by
Carolyn Jenkins, W. Gaston Caperton, Malcolm Jackson, Harrison B. Smith, Frank
Woodman, Katie Bell Abney, Edward W. Knight, Reverend Herman Francis Gow, and Rebecca
Bullard in the fall of 1915. Prior to the existence of this structure, the home
was located at 1007 Quarrier Street. Much of the new home’s furniture was
donated by Mattie V. Lee’s husband. The first matron of the Mattie V. Lee home
was Mrs. Dorsey, who shortly resigned and was replaced by her former assistant,
Mattie Moss. 

As Dr. Mattie V. Lee retired from being a
physician, she focused on fighting for social justices in her local
environment. The home was named in her honor to thank her for her good deeds
pertaining to the home and the local community. The home on Quarrier Street
only housed 12 women, and only lasted 5 years. Local businesses came together
to donate the money needed to purchase the home at 810 Donnally Street. In
1920, the new home opened its doors to the community. In 1958, the United Way
started funding the Mattie V. Lee Home to assist with upkeep, and the home also
started accepting white women as well. In 1988, the home was renovated and
expanded to become a better outreach program. Today the Mattie V. Lee Home
still provides shelter to those in need, and serves the purpose of being an
addiction treatment facility through the Prestera Center. The home was placed
on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

Mattie V. Lee was the first African American woman physician from the state of West Virginia, and was heavily involved in efforts to provide housing for female students and as a center for social events. The Mattie V. Lee house was established in 1915 as a safe haven for African American girls who relocated to Charleston, WV in search of employment. Historically, the home served as a social, religious, and cultural center, as well as helping in the process of residents becoming employed. Today the Mattie V. Lee Home is an addiction treatment center for the Prestera Center. 

Mattie V. Lee Home

The Harden-Gilmore house was constructed in 1900 by an Italian immigrant and contractor, Dominic Minotti. Minotti also built the piers on the bridges that connect Kanawha City and South Charleston with Charleston. After several years of retirement, Minotti passed away in 1925. In the mid-1930s, Minotti’s wife passed away and the house became a boarding house for a brief period, and was then put up for sale. Elizabeth Harden Gilmore, the first woman to be a licensed funeral director in Kanawha County, purchased the home in 1947.Elizabeth Harden Gilmore bought the home, with her husband, when she was in her late 30s. They remodeled it to serve as both their home and funeral parlor, Harden and Harden Funeral Home. The ownership of the Black funeral home in Charleston, WV, gave Gilmore a sense of recognition as a leader in the Black community. Gilmore took this leadership seriously, and became a key figure in the civil rights movement in West Virginia. Gilmore fought for her daughter’s right to be admitted into Camp Anne Bailey. Her daughter’s Girl Scout troop was the first African American group to be admitted into the camp. Gilmore also co-founded the local chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality, or CORE, in 1958. Serving as the co-chairman and the executive secretary of CORE, Gilmore led the efforts of a sit-in at the local Diamond Department Store. After a year and a half long fight, Gilmore and CORE successfully convinced The Diamond to open their lunch counters to African-Americans. Elizabeth Harden Gilmore was active in an impressive number of civic organizations. She founded a women’s club in the early 1950s that opened and operated the first integrated day care center in Charleston. She served on the community welfare council and on the Executive Board of the Citizens Committee for a West Virginia Human Rights Law, a grassroots organization formed to achieve the passage of an enforceable civil rights law. Due to the efforts of that organization, the state civil rights law were amended in 1961. She was a member of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce (serving on their education task force), an adviser to the Volunteer Service Bureau, and a charter member of the Kanawha Valley Council of Human Relations. During her time on the council, she served as the group’s first Vice President, participated in their Panel of American Women (a public forum focused on race and religion), and worked to get African Americans into homes and neighborhoods that had excluded them in the past through the Clearing House for Open Occupancy Selection Effort. She also participated in the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. In 1969, Gilmore became the first African American appointed to the West Virginia Board of Regents, and eventually served as the vice president and then president. <blockquote>"I am convinced of the efficiency of direct action. If our people had used it a generation or two ago, we wouldn't be witnessing the things today that shock and sadden people of all races." - Elizabeth Harden Gilmore1</blockquote>

Elizabeth Harden Gilmore was a Charleston funeral director and a pioneer in the civil right movement in West Virginia. Gilmore was a leader and one of the founders of the local chapter of Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) that led sit-ins throughout Charleston. She also worked to secure the admission of African American Girl Scouts into the previously all-white Camp Anne Bailey. Gilmore led the first sit-in against the Diamond Department Store’s lunch counter in Downtown Charleston. Thanks to her leadership, the store opened the lunch counter to African American patrons in 1960. In 1988, Gilmore's home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Efforts continue to restore the home and operate it in a way that honors Gilmore's legacy. 

Elizabeth Harden Gilmore House

Garnet High School was one of three all Black high schools in Kanawha County, WV; the other two schools were the West Virginia State College Teachers Training High and Washington High at London. During the era of segregated schools in Kanawha County, the Black students were picked up by bus two hours before school started, and were picked up from school after the white students were taken home. The Black students were leaving home before the sun came up, and getting home after the sun had already set.C.W. Boyd was a Kentucky native who moved to Charleston, WV in 1892 to start his teaching career. He organized Garnett High School in 1900 out of a graded school that had already been established. Mr. Boyd was Garnett’s principal for the school’s first eight years, and left to become the Supervisor of Charleston Negro Public Schools. J.F.J. Clark replaced Mr. Boyd, and the high school gained its own separate building from the grade school in 1909. In 1927, the new location of Garnett High School along Lewis and Shrewsbury Streets was proposed. The new building had such amenities as an auditorium, gymnasium, library, cafeteria, swing rooms, a domestic science room, mechanical drawing, printing, and science labs. The name was changed from Garnett High School to Garnet High School when the school moved into the new building, because the stone cutting company made a spelling error and the Board of Education did not require them to repair it.Scott M. Brown was Garnet’s third principal, serving from 1946 to 1949, and left to become the Assistant Superintendent of Schools. Harry E. Dennis was the last principal to serve Garnet High School. After the 1954 Supreme Court Decision that “separate but equal” was unconstitutional, Garnet graduated their last class in 1956. The building was then utilized at the John Adams Junior High for a brief period of time before becoming the Garnet Education Center. Today Garnet still serves the same purpose as the Garnet Career Center. In 1990, Garnet was added to the National Register of Historic Places.Henry Highland Garnet was born a slave in Maryland in 1815. Garnett and his family escaped slavery and moved to New York before he was ten years old. Garnett became an abolitionist in the 1840s, and gave a famous speech, “Call to Rebellion,” in 1843 that persuaded slaves to rise up against their owners and to free themselves. Garnett was seen as a radical in the abolition movement, and was the first Black speaker to give a speech in the House of Representatives. He served as the United States Minister and Counsel General in Liberia in 1881, and died there in 1882.

Named for former slave Henry Highland Garnet (1815- 1882), Garnet High School served as one of three Black high schools in Kanawha County, WV. As most schools did, Garnet High School provided a vital cultural tie to members of the community it served. Throughout the era of segregation Garnet High School provided an excellent education for its students despite the limitations which developed under the "separate but equal" system. The school produced many notable alumni including the Reverend Leon Sullivan, medical pioneer John C. Norman, Jr., and television personality Tony Brown. Ivin Lee, the first woman to head a police department in West Virginia and the Executive Director of the West Virginia Human Rights Commission is also a graduate of Garnet High School. Today Garnet is utilized as a career center, a WV exemplary school.

Garnet High School

During the first half of the eighteenth century, the Kanawha Valley held West Virginia’s largest concentration of slaves. Known at the time as the Kanawha Salines, Malden was home to over 1,500 slaves who labored in the town’s saltworks. The actual number of slaves in the area is unknown, as many were hired out from Kentucky and eastern Virginia to work temporarily in the salt industry. Saltmaking was a labor-intensive and potentially dangerous process, and living conditions for the slaves were unsanitary. Outbreaks of cholera frequently occurred, including one in which one hundred slaves died over a three-month period in 1844. After the Civil War, many former slaves settled in the Kanawha Valley, having found themselves under a new economic and social order in a new state. The Black community organized at an early date into religious groups, and by 1865 the African Zion Baptist Church was recognized as the main organization completely owned and controlled by African Americans in the area. The African Zion Baptist Church formed as a congregation of free Blacks as early as 1852. For a time, meetings of the church were held in the home of Reverend Lewis Rice, the founder of the church and a leader of the early Black community in the area. The first church structure was built in November 1865, with the aid of General Lewis Ruffner, a local salt entrepreneur. By 1872, the valley’s expanding coal industry required the church to move to its present location at Malden, where the congregation built a sanctuary that still stands today. As the economy grew and Black settlers were drawn to the Kanawha Valley, new branches of African Zion were organized until the churches joined the Mt. Olivet Baptist Association in 1874. Today, African Zion remains the state’s oldest Black Baptist church and is considered the mother church for all of West Virginia’s Black Baptists. African Zion Baptist Church is also notable for its most famous congregant, educator Booker T. Washington. After the Civil War, Washington and his mother, brother, and sister had migrated to Kanawha Salines, where they joined Booker's stepfather at a salt-packing house. Washington attended African Zion Baptist Church from the age of nine to sixteen years old, at which point he left to attend the Hampton Institute in Virginia in 1872. After his graduation in 1876, Washington returned to live in Malden, teaching Sunday School at African Zion. Washington married his first wife, Fannie Smith, at the church in 1881 before leaving to become the first leader of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Washington maintained his membership in the church and returned many times to Malden to visit his half-sister, Amanda Johnson, until his death in 1915.African Zion Baptist church has been well-preserved over the years. With the exception of minor repairs and the replacement of deteriorated floorboards and window sills, the church appears much as it did when it was attended by Booker T. Washington. In 1940, the church was enlarged to create storage and sanitary facilities. The interior also underwent a refurbishing around 1940, with its walls and ceiling covered with a composition fiberboard. In 1951, asphalt shingles were added to provide better roofing for the structure and its bell tower. Carpeting was placed on the floor in 1972. Two years later, the church was added to the National Register of Historic Places. A replica of Booker T. Washington’s boyhood cabin was also constructed behind the church, standing as a landmark to diversity and hard work among Malden’s many historic structures. The church is a frame structure built atop a stone foundation, with a crawl space but no basement underneath. The gable-roofed sanctuary is topped on its front by a wooden bell tower. The entrance steps are made of cement, the old wooden risers having been replaced in 1963. The weatherboard exterior is simply designed and painted white, as is all trim. Broken in front by a double-door entrance and symmetrically placed windows on either side, the church has two windows on all elevations. The four upper panes in each window are clear while the lower four are translucent. All in all, the plain and simple lines of African Zion Baptist Church have remained intact since 1872, giving the structure the character associated with age and place. Due to the dramatic decline of the African American population of Malden, African Zion Baptist Church no longer holds regular worship, but special ceremonies are still held at the building.

Located in Malden, West Virginia, African Zion Baptist Church is the oldest African American Baptist church in the state. Prior to the Civil War, thousands of slaves labored at the saltworks of the Kanawha Valley, many of whom remained in the area when the war ended. African Zion Baptist Church was organized by freedmen in 1852, and initially operated out of the home of its founder, Reverend Lewis Rice. In 1865, a temporary church building was built with the aid of General Lewis Ruffner, before the church relocated to its current location in 1872. The historic building is best known as the boyhood church of Booker T. Washington, one of the most influential African Americans of the twentieth century. The church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and located next to a reconstruction of Washington's boyhood cabin.

African Zion Baptist Church, Malden West Virginia 

The Great Depression that followed the great stock market crash of 1929 was a devastating economic climate for most Americans. When the prospect of work came along, thousands of unemployed workers usually jumped at the chance. Growing chemical giant Union Carbide &nbsp;then in the process of building a metallurgical plant in Alloy, West Virginia needed both a way to power the new factory and a massive supply of silica for the manufacturing process. The company devised a way to provide both with a new project: the Hawks Nest Tunnel.With the mountainous terrain and falling waters of the area, near where the confluence of the New and Gauley Rivers become the Kanawha, hydroelectric power had been in use since the early 1900s. Union Carbide awarded Rinehart and Dennis Corporation of Charlottesville, Virginia the contract to build a three mile long tunnel through Gauley Mountain which was very rich in silica. The water would be diverted through the tunnel to a new dam for power. The contract was awarded on March 13, 1930 and the company had exactly two years from that date to have the tunnel, dam, and powerhouse completed.There was no shortage of available men to work. The Great Depression provided the opportunity to find an available and easy workforce. &nbsp;Approximately 5000 men were recruited to work on the tunnel over the course of the two years-with ⅔ of them being African American. Of these 5000, 2982 were underground drilling and blasting while most of the skilled positions were filled by men from Union Carbide. Workers lived on site, in shacks, sometimes 8 men to a room. Workers were paid 35 cents an hour and worked up to 60 hours a week--however, they paid $1 a week for shack rent and electricity plus 50 cents a week for the use of a company doctor and local hospital.The tunnel was dug through Gauley Mountain between Anstead and Gauley Bridge. Core ground samples revealed most of the rock to be high-grade silica bearing sandstone. Normally with this type of rock, a “wet drilling” technique would be used, where water is applied to the drill bits to reduce dust. However, with so little time to complete the project a dry drilling technique was used. Workers would often come home covered in a white dust from head to toe. &nbsp;Because this was a civil engineering project, safety measures were reduced. The tunnel had poor ventilation. There was a lack of dust control and only a limited use of personal breathing protection.Within months of starting the project, workers started to get sick. At first, company doctors diagnosed them with pneumonia, but as more men fell ill, their families were less satisfied with the company’s explanation. A Fayetteville law firm took on the case and consulted an independent professional, Dr. Leonidas Ryan Harless, to conduct chest x-rays of affected workers. &nbsp;Harless confirmed that it was not pneumonia, but silicosis: a progressive fibrosis of the lungs caused by inhaling pulverized silica dioxide. The law firm went on to sue for compensation for the workers and their families against Rinehart and Dennis Corporation, aided by an agreement from Dr. Harless that he would examine any worker they represented. The Corporation’s defense stated that tunnel had the best ventilation possible while the machinery and the working conditions at Hawks Nest were the best ever known. A settlement was eventually reached--a mere $200,000. &nbsp;This settlement was split between 538 families and some settlements ranged from $30 upwards to $1,600.The complete death toll from the disaster is not known. The United States House of Representatives held a congressional hearing in 1936, eventually attributing 476 deaths to the disaster. In an award-winning study conducted in 1986 by epidemiologist Martin Cherniack, however, Dr. Cherniak asserts that upward of 764 actually died of silicosis and exposure to the silica dust. Congress did not pursue any punitive actions against Union Carbide or Rinehart and Dennis.While the death toll was still climbing, victims were dying so quickly that it became an issue as to where the dead should be buried. Only 40% of men lasted more than 2 months on the job--a mere 20% made past 6 months. The greatest hardships often fell to the African American workers--who in this segregated era were often not allowed burials in “white” cemeteries. At first, the recently deceased were dumped in the river bed and covered with tunnel rock. When public suspicions were aroused, Union Carbide paid a nearby farmer to bury African-Americans in unmarked graves in a field on Martha White’s farm in Nicholas County, near Summersville.Today, the tunnel continues to divert water and produce electricity for the metallurgical plant in Alloy. Though Union Carbide was dismantled and sold in portions throughout the 1980s and 1990s, their persistent destruction of records coupled with a campaign to silence workers in the 1930s has prevented a meaningful body of scholarship on the disaster since--though in 2016 West Virginia University Press re-published famed New York poet Muriel Rukheyser’s “The Book of the Dead,” written in 1936, which revolves around her interactions with Hawks Nest survivors.Silicosis has since been diagnosed as an occupational disease with compensation for workers. But while the tragedy at Hawks Nest informed this legislation, the tunnel workers of 1930-1932 were not protected by these laws, and their legacy remains largely unrecognized.

Despite being considered one of the greatest industrial disasters in United States history, the events at Hawks Nest Tunnel remain remarkably unacknowledged in the development of American labor. As the country sank into the Great Depression, in 1930-1932 a three-mile long tunnel from was dug through the heart of Gauley Mountain in the Kanawha Valley of West Virginia by Union Carbide corporation to divert water to a hydroelectric plant, and at the time the project was considered an engineering marvel. Lax safety standards and a disregard for worker welfare, however, caused the death of hundreds of workers from silicosis. Despite later legislation that set precedents in mining and safety standards, Union Carbide avoided any real consequences in the investigation that followed.


Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster 

Camp Washington-Carver was constructed between 1939-1942 and was a 4-H Camp for African American children in West Virginia. It is possible that it was the first 4-H camp for Black children in the nation. The camp was named for Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver and it served 200-1600 children in 4-H, agricultural, and home economic activities. Prior to the Civil Rights Movement there were only a couple of institutions within West Virginia for the education and advancement of African Americans in the state. In the 1930s funding became available through the Works Progress Administration and the State Board of Control decided to construct a facility that would provide the types of services white children received at the Jackson’s Mill 4-H camp. The legislation authorizing construction of the camp was passed by the WV legislature on March 9, 1937 and the WV Board of Control oversaw its design and construction. The construction of Camp Washington Carver was done by men working under the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal program giving work to unemployed men during the Great Depression. Due to the “chestnut blight” that swept through the entire region in the 1930s, the WPA crews combined the tasks of clearing the ravaged stands of trees (to reduce the fire risk of the dead trees) and producing the timber needed to construct the camp buildings. This is the main reason the major structures (the Assembly and Dining Hall, log cottage, and dormitories) are constructed out of chestnut. The Great Chestnut Lodge is the largest chestnut log structure in the state. The first building was completed in 1940 and construction of the camp site was finished in 1942. The dedication ceremony on July 26, 1942 featured an address by Governor M. Mansfield Neely and was attended by many state dignitaries, including D.T. Murray who was the president of the Negro State Board of Education. Also in attendance was the president of West Virginia State College, John W. Davis. WV State College was one of the few Black colleges in the state and it took over management of Camp Washington Carver as part of its extension services beginning after the camp’s construction. The camp served many different programs, all of which catered to African American culture and successes. The camps ranged from 4-Hcamps to the Boy and Girl Scouts, to church camps and other programs. The dining hall and pool could be rented for luxury gatherings such as weddings, reunions, or picnics. The camp became a part of the West Virginia Department of Culture and History in 1979 to become an arts center. In 1980 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places for both its significance to WV African American history and its construction as a WPA Depression project. Currently the WV Department of Art, Culture and History uses the structures as an arts center that hosts events such as the Appalachian String Band Music Festival which attracts thousands of people for the exciting week in August.

Camp Washington Carver, named for the Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver, was home to the very first African American 4-H camp. Constructed between 1939-1942 it was built by the Works Progress Administration to provide educational services to Black youth in West Virginia similar to those provided to white students at Jackson's Mill 4-H Camp. It was managed by West Virginia State College as part of its extension programs and in 1979 the camp was acquired by the WV Department of Culture and History. It is now home to events such as the Appalachian String Band Festival.

Camp Washington Carver

In 1917, during the peak of the tuberculosis out break in the United States, West Virginia purchased 185 acres of land and buildings in the local area to create a facility that would treat African Americans with tuberculosis. Prior to this time, there were few options for African Americans with the disease. The facility opened in 1939 and accepted all Black patients with TB that could afford to pay--a decision which still left many without treatment options. As medical science began finding cures and effective preventative measure, the need for TB hospitals declined. IN 1950, the sanitarium was transformed and renamed the West Virginia State Hospital for the Chronically Ill. In 1990, that facility closed and the building remained in state hands. It is now The Denmar Correctional Facility. Since the closing of the sanitarium many death records have been surfacing of patients who passed away in the facility. Many family members have been in search for decades of the records of relatives who were registered there and never released. The state has faced many legal actions taken by the families and now most of the sanitariums records are available online.

Tuberculosis was a national epidemic that affected people of all races, but African Americans in West Virginia and other states were rarely able to secure treatment at local hospitals. In order to serve these patients while maintaining a system of racial segregation, the West Virginia legislature created the West Virginia Colored Tuberculosis Sanitarium in 1917. 

West Virginia Colored Tuberculosis Sanitarium, 1937-1950 

Thanks to the work of historians, the story of John Henry now considers the likelihood that Henry was a convict laborer who perished while being leased to the C &amp; O Railroad along with hundreds of other men who died from inhaling fragments of rock while drilling into the stone in order to place dynamite charges. The discovery of several hundred skeletons near the Virginia State Penitentiary, along with the original lyrics of the Ballad of John Henry, suggests that he did not die from exhaustion after "battling" a steam drill but rather from a the railroad's failure to offer basic protections for the lungs of their convict laborers. John Henry was a New Jersey native and made his way towards Appalachia as a grave digger for the Union Army at a very young age. At 19, John Henry was arrested for stealing from a grocery store, but in reality, his conviction and sentencing may have been at least partially motivated by racism and the profitable nature of the convict lease system. He was sent to the Virginia Penitentiary and the C&amp;O railroad company paid the Virginia Penitentiary to "lease" their convicts to help build the railroads. The system of convict labor became notorious for the death rate among many laborers, especially those involved in tunnel construction and mining. The cause of John Henry's death is unknown, but it was most likely a combination of factors. It is possible that he also perished from exhaustion from an event similar to the song that bears his name, but rather than "fighting the steam drill," voluntarily, he was likely the victim of overwork and poor working conditions. The aforementioned information comes from Steel Drivin' Man by Scott Reynolds Nelson. Steel Drivin' Man tells all about the workers of the early railroads and John Henry's life. Those who really want to understand Henry's life and death should read about the convict lease system that forced thousands of African Americans to work as captives without pay long after slavery was abolished. John was a part of this system and was worked to death because of it. John was convicted of theft, according to Nelson, and likely sentenced to a long term in prison after the amount of property he was accused of taking was wildly exaggerated to secure a felony conviction rather than a misdemeanor. After his conviction, Henry was sent to a prison in Virginia. Who then sent him to work for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. The fabled story of John Henry in American history exemplifies a tale that bridges cultural gaps. As Nelson recounts in his book Steel Drivin’ Man, finding the real John Henry was difficult and led to many variations of Henry’s life. famous musicians ranging from genres such as blues, country, folk, and bluegrass have covered numerous variations of the song. Whether or not the real John Henry's identity surfaces, the story of his life represents many harsh realities in American history for African Americans and laborers in the railroad industry.John Henry the Legend began with his fellow convicts working on the railroad. They would chant the tale of John Henry, using the song to signal when to drive their hammers down. The tale originally centered on the tragedy of his life, how he worked and worked until he died. But along the way it changed. The tail became the story of a man who fought for others against the company, against taking humanity out of work in place of machines. From there, folk singers and country music stars like Johnny Cash made the story more widespread in the United States. In the year 2000, Disney made an animated short about John Henry along with other well known American tall tales.John Henry was the first Black superhero in a way. As his tale moved from being depressing to uplifting, he became someone for African American youth to look up to. John Henry was also an inspiration for Superman. So much so that after the Death of Superman storyline a successor for Superman was named John Henry Irons (the superhero Steel).Below is a short Q&amp;A with the author of Steel Drivin' Man, Scott Reynolds Nelson:Why do you think John's legend isn't that widespread today? I live in WV and many of the people of my generation have never heard of the tale. I think it's partly generational. Most students in my generation and earlier learned the class in chorus because it was a song free of copyright. Hundreds of thousands of GIs heard it during World War II because it was widely distributed by the US government as proof that the US wasn't a racial empire like the Nazis and the Japanese.Why is it that not many acknowledge his pop culture influence? Partly it's because he was Black, and partly because the Communist Party was important in spreading the story. As the anti-Communist wave came in the 1950s, the song of John Henry was somewhat suspect.Finally, do you think the story of the man will ever be able to rival that of the legend? I think the story is so much deeper and richer than the legend. The legend is beautiful, and I love the song. But when you see the tragedy of his real life it only deepens the beauty of the song.

A monument to African American folk hero John Henry was dedicated in 1972 and stood at this location for over forty years before it was relocated to the new John Henry Historical Park on the other side of the tunnel. According to legend, John Henry was born a slave in the 1840s but was freed after the war. The story has transformed over the years and many still cling to the mythical story of Henry defeating a steam-powered drill in a battle of man vs machine that continues to resonate with those fearing changes due to technology.

Great Bend Tunnel Overlook and John Henry Monument (1972-2012)

Before the coal industry entered the coalfields of southern West Virginia, the area of McDowell County was sparsely populated and was only inhabited by few farmers. Coal operators noticed the value in the once inaccessible land and organized landholding companies and installed railroads. Many mines opened in McDowell County after the railroad was completed through Flat Top Mountain. As the coal industry expanded in McDowell County, the population rose from 8,515 in 1880 to 30,000 in 1910. In the developing years of the coal industry in southern West Virginia, the local population was enough to sustain the labor needed to mine and operate the coal, however, the industry grew at such a rapid pace that mine operators were forced to seek laborers from the neighboring states and as far as Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Russia.African American coal miners were recruited from the southern states during this influx of laborers, however, this was not the first time their labor helped develop an industry in southern West Virginia. In the 1850s, African American laborers mined coal in the Kanawha Valley and assisted in constructing the railroad throughout the region. In 1907, 35% of the laborers in the Pocahontas coalfield were African American, and in 1920, 43% of all recorded African American miners were employed in West Virginia. McDowell County had the largest concentration of African American miners in the entire Appalachian region. It was in this industry in southern West Virginia that African Americans, European immigrants, and natives lived and worked in the same environment, and it was reported that African American miners were paid an equal wage for equal work amongst their white coworkers.During World War I, 1,500 African American citizens represented McDowell County and fought in the war. In the early 1920s, a World War I memorial building was established in Welch, the county seat, using county funds. The African American citizens of McDowell County petitioned for a building to commemorate the African American veterans and the county court-approved and appropriated $25,000 for the construction of the building. The McDowell County commission hired Welch architect, Hassel T. Hicks to design the structure. The Kimball War Memorial was opened and dedicated on February 11th, 1928. It is reported that this structure was the first in the nation to be dedicated to the efforts of African American soldiers. Captain G.E. Ferguson, a Charleston native, and the only Black captain from West Virginia to serve in World War I gave the address. “Captain Ferguson referenced the memorial building in his address and assigned each column a symbolic meaning. The pillar faith, he claimed, represents faith in our country and its institutions; the pillar hope stands for the hope that injustices will cease; another column represents charity; and the service column should remind everyone of their obligation to their community, county, state, and nation.”The Kimball War Memorial Building housed many functions and was a hub for the African American community in McDowell County. The American Legion Post was housed in the building and was named after Luther Patterson, the first African American soldier from McDowell County to die in combat during World War I. The original building had a kitchen, a trophy room, an auditorium with a stage, meeting rooms and a library. The War Memorial was the focal point of the community hosting community meetings, high school proms, wedding receptions and a performance by Cab Calloway.The falter of the coal industry in McDowell county resulted in a population decrease, along with the deterioration of the War Memorial building. After a fire in 1991, the memorial was left in ruins and only an outer shell of the once-grand building remained.There were many local efforts to restore the building to what it once was, and in 1993 the War Memorial was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. With continued efforts to obtain funds for restoration, the War Memorial was restored in the early 2000s. The new architect for the building was Ralph Peterson, and with having the old blueprints he tried to keep the restoration like the old building while updating it as well. The three-story building is now open with an exhibit put together by students at West Virginia University on the second floor, a kitchen on the first floor, and a small auditorium on the third floor. The building is available for tours and has many opportunities for scheduled events, and the staff loves to have visitors!

The Kimball War Memorial building was dedicated in February of 1928 and is reported to be the first war memorial in the nation to be built in dedication to African American veterans. The building was home to the American Legion Post, named after Luther Patterson, the first African American soldier from McDowell County to die in combat during World War I. A decrease in the population of McDowell County and little upkeep led to the deterioration of the Kimball War Memorial, and a fire destroyed nearly everything but the supporting structure in 1991. After many years of effort and raising funds, the Kimball War Memorial has been restored and is now open for events and tours.

Landmarks of Black History in West Virginia

Washington Place

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Additional Information