Classroom

Martin Luther King, Jr.&nbsp;was an American Baptist&nbsp;minister, activist,&nbsp;humanitarian, and leader in the&nbsp;African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of&nbsp;civil rights&nbsp;using&nbsp;nonviolent civil disobedience&nbsp;based on his&nbsp;Christian&nbsp;beliefs.&nbsp;King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955&nbsp;Montgomery Bus Boycott&nbsp;and helped found the&nbsp;Southern Christian Leadership Conference&nbsp;(SCLC) in 1957, serving as its first president. With the SCLC, King led an unsuccessful 1962 struggle against segregation in&nbsp;Albany, Georgia&nbsp;&nbsp;and helped organize the 1963 nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama, that attracted national attention following television news coverage of the brutal police response. King also helped to organize the 1963&nbsp;March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have A Dream" speech. There, he established his reputation as one of the greatest&nbsp;orators&nbsp;in American history.Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. visited West Virginia to speak about desegregation. It was a crossroads that intertwined the North and South. West Virginia was a northern state with a predominantly southern mindset. He visited at a time when the civil rights movement was in full swing and the discussion of desegregation and specifically the desegregation&nbsp;of schools was a hot topic in the United States. It can be viewed as the mid point of the African-American Civil Rights Movement led by King, which began in the mid-1950s until his death in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.&nbsp;

A photo of a church service at the First Baptist Church in Charleston. A good depiction of what Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was looking at when he gave his speech.

A photo of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Charleston, WV in 1960.

An invitation to First Baptist Church to listen to guest speaker Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. visited Charleston, WV in 1960 to speak at the First Baptist Church. It was the only time that he visited the state. He spoke on multiple topics but specifically desegregation. 

First Baptist Church

Contributor

A social history of education and racial justice in Charleston, WV.

Christopher Fairfield Hopson was born in Little River County, Arkansas on April 30, 1890. He went to public school in the Texarkana area before attending Bishop College in Marshall, Texas. He pursued a medical degree at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee and graduated in 1918. After serving in the army during the First World War, Hopson relocated to Charleston, West Virginia and set up a private practice there around 1920. Around 1933, Dr. Hopson was married to Lillian Bickett, a Charleston native and moved to 107 Bream Street. Dr. Hopson and his wife had three children together: Christopher Fairfield Jr., Nona, and Lillianette Hopson. While operating his private practice in Charleston, Hopson also served as a physician for nearby West Virginia State College and for the Kanawha County Board of Education. In 1951, Dr. Hopson constructed a building to house his practice at the corner of Bream Street and 1st Avenue. The building held apartments on the top two floors and the medical practice in the basement. Hopson also invested in real estate, as it provided a consistent flow of income. This additional source of income was essential as Dr. Hopson was known to treat people who couldn't pay their fees. In many cases, he allowed patients to pay their bills by trading goods and services.Tyrone Pierce, a student at Marshall University, researched this site in March 2015 by interviewing residents of the neighborhood. He first spoke with Ruth Jones of 1410 2nd Avenue, just around the corner from Dr. Hopson’s medical practice. Mrs. Jones stated that Dr. Hopson had given her booster shots as a child. Mrs Jones remembered him as a nice man and a good doctor, although she was a small child at the time. She recalled that a lot of African Americans frequented his practice in the 1960s, but she did not fully understand the impact that Dr. Hopson had on the community. Pierce also spoke with Mary Rice, who lived at 1503 2nd Avenue. Dr. Hopson treated Mrs. Rice for the flu in exchange for ginseng and jimson weed, which were common ingredients in home remedies. Mrs. Rice recalled that Dr. Hopson's wife had a big garden on the side yard and that she often shared the fruits of the garden with their neighbors. Mrs. Rice, when asked how the color barrier was crossed in his practice, stated that whites and Blacks both had to use his practice because there were not many doctors in the area. She recalled that there were few problems because the neighborhood was mixed, with whites and Blacks united by a similar economic status. Pierce also interviewed his father, Willie L Pierce, who resided at 5110 Elaine Drive. Mr. Pierce recalled that he was treated by Dr. Hopson while living in Washington Manor. Mr. Pierce 	had been so sick that he could not make it to his office, so Dr. Hopson made a home visit and gave him a shot, resulting in his recovery a few days later. Pierce also interviewed Reverend Brogan of the Ebeneezer Baptist Church on 3rd Avenue. Reverend Brogan stated that he had met Dr. Hopson and that they had spoken several times, but that Dr. Hopson kept to himself most of the time. The reverend remembered that the doctor had shut his practice down by around 1974 and had left the area. In addition to being a prominent physician, Dr. Hopson was also involved in state and local politics. He was chairman of the West Virginia Negro Democratic Organization in 1928 and 1940, and he served as the director of the West Virginia Bureau of Negro Welfare and Statistics from 1941 to 1955. Founded in 1921, the bureau promoted the interests of West Virginia’s African Americans and published biennial reports about their economic and social status until it was dissolved in 1957. The Bureau of Negro Welfare and Statistics had a complicated existence, as, according to Colin E. Reynolds, it “was an organization of African American civic leaders committed to racial uplift who were simultaneously government bureaucrats in a segregated state.” As director, Hopson continued the bureau’s transition into welfare state bureaucracy during and after the Great Depression. A key contribution of Hopson’s was the creation of the “Collaborator System” in about 1949. Under this system, leaders in different communities were chosen to report on problems and thereby hold accountable the state welfare agencies to which the bureau was referring people. Hopson was reappointed in 1953, but his term was cut short in 1955 when a scandal involving Democratic governor Marland resulted in the state Senate’s rejection of several of the governor’s appointees.Though Hopson’s political affiliations are evident from his involvement in Democratic organizations and the state government, an inscription on one of the buildings that he owned provides another example of his convictions. He carved a tribute to Nat Turner into the face of an apartment building at 1421 2nd Avenue. It reads “Nat Turner - Brave Courageous Intrepid - Dr. Hopson.” Between the 21st and 23rd of August, 1831, Turner led one of the nation's bloodiest slave rebellions, killing from 55 to 65 people in Southampton County, Virginia. In the aftermath, the state executed 56 slaves, including Turner, and approximately 120 slaves and free Blacks were killed by white militias and mobs in retaliation. That Hopson would carve such a tribute demonstrates both a knowledge of Black history and a willingness to take a risk: had area white residents discovered and understood the history referenced by this tribute, it might have cost Hopson dearly, as most white Americans did not have a favorable view of Turner at the time. Even as legal segregation ended in the 1950s and 1960s, and although Jim Crow laws were not as entrenched in West Virginia as in the Deep South, racial inequality and prejudice were nevertheless commonplace. A tribute to Nat Turner’s rebellion could therefore be seen as a threat to the existing racial hierarchy, or even a call for violence against whites.Relatively little information is available about the final years of Hopson’s life. He was reportedly an active farmer. He posted ads in the Charleston Daily Mail selling turkeys and pigs. In 1959, Hopson and his colleague purchased a farm and grew 50 acres of chestnuts. In 1962, he was honored as a “Conservation Farmer of the Year” by Capitol Soil District. He passed away in Charleston in June 1981. Today, his medical practice is closed and the Hopson family no longer resides in Charleston, but the inscription on the face of the building, as well as the Nat Turner inscription on the 2nd Avenue apartment building, are still visible. They stand as reminders of Hopson’s legacy as both an accomplished physician who provided medical care to his community, as well as a public figure and activist at a time of significant change for African Americans in West Virginia and across the nation.

Christopher Fairfield Hopson was a prominent African American physician and public figure in Charleston, West Virginia. Born in Arkansas in 1890, Hopson received a medical degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee in 1918 before relocating to Charleston and opening a private practice. During the 1950s, he built and operated a medical office at the corner of 1st Avenue and Bream Street, where he secured a contract with the City of Charleston to provide physicals for government employees on the city's west side. According to oral histories, Hopson worked to break down racial barriers in Charleston by attending to both white and Black patients. Hopson was also involved in state and local politics, serving as Chairman of the West Virginia Negro Democratic Organization in 1928 and 1940, and as the director of the West Virginia Bureau of Negro Welfare and Statistics from 1941 to 1955. He is also notable for carving a tribute to Nat Turner - the leader of an 1831 slave rebellion - on one of the apartment buildings he owned, a bold statement given the tumultuous race relations of the 1950s and 1960s. Later in his life, Hopson became involved in farming and raising livestock. He died in Charleston in 1981.

Christopher Fairfield Hopson's Medical Office 

Mary C. Snow was the first Black principal in Kanawha County
after desegregation.&nbsp; Mrs. Snow served as
principal of Glenwood Elementary for many years. She was an award winning
educator with her focus on special education.&nbsp;
(Marra, 2012) 

Glenwood and Chandler Elementaries were to be closed and
consolidated and Mary C. Snow’s name was in the running as a contender for the
name of the new school to replace these Kanawha Boulevard on the West Side of
Charleston.&nbsp; But, there was legislation
being introduced that would prohibit the naming of a public building for a
living person.&nbsp; The 95 year old Mrs. Snow
was very disappointed.&nbsp; (Marra, 2012)

Even though Mrs. Snow died at the age of 98 in January 2011
and the elementary school could have been named for her, in August 2011, West
Side Elementary opened its doors.&nbsp; The
fight to get Snow’s name on the school was still not over.&nbsp; Protests, calls to the Board of Education and
marches took place.&nbsp; (Marra, 2012)

Mary C. Snow was not just the first Black principal after
desegregation in Kanawha County.&nbsp; She
also received several awards in her lifetime including: the governor's Living
the Dream Award and the Distinguished Mountaineer Award. She served on the
Human Rights Commission and was involved in the exchange program where she
traveled to Cardiff, Wales and had tea with the Queen.&nbsp; She was the first Black teacher in the
country to go to Wales. (Marra, 2012)

Finally, in July 2013, after marches led by local Black
ministers, support from the faculty of the new school, and even from the mayor,
Danny Jones, the School Board decided to add Mary C. Snow to the name of West
Side Elementary.&nbsp; The name of the school
is now Mary C. Snow West Side Elementary.&nbsp;
(Boucher, 2013)

Mary C. Snow was the first Black principal in Kanawha County after desegregation.  She also received several community awards and served on the Human Rights Commission.  Still, getting her name on the elementary was not an easy task and required marches and work by the Black community, the staff and students of the school and others.  Perseverance paid out and her name was finally added after several years.  

Mary C. Snow West Side Elementary

James Madison Laidley, a newspaper editor, politician, and prominent salt maker, had this home built in 1852 by William Preston.1 The material used for construction were available on the property or nearby. Wood was cut from the abundant timber standing, bricks were fired from clay found on the property, and the sandstone was taken from a nearby quarry. Brick used in construction is recorded as being 18 inches thick, or the thickness of three bricks. The exterior of this Greek Revival home is accented with a carved dentil cornice across the front. Sandstone block is used for the foundation. The Laidley family lived in a smaller four-room brick structure during the construction of Glenwood, This structure became the slave quarters, most likely for domestic slaves. There were smaller, less substantial structures throughout Glenwood's 366 acres for field slaves. Upon completion of the 12-room, two story home, Laidley named the home "Glenwood" for the nearby rock-strewn glen cut by a stream. This was a popular location during the summer for people in the area to visit as it was always cooler in temperature than elsewhere.  In 1857, Judge George Summers purchased Glenwood.2 Summers was an active politician. He served as a representative to the 1850-51 Constitutional Convention in Richmond, ran for governor as a Whig in 1851, and in 1852 became a circuit judge in Kanawha County, a post he held when he purchased Glenwwod. George Summers and his wife, Amacetta, lived at Glenwood until their deaths in 1868 and 1867, respectively.

One of Charleston's oldest homes, this beautiful antebellum residence is located on the West Side directly across the street from Stonewall Jackson Middle School. It is possibly the only antebellum home with slave quarters still standing in the Kanawha Valley, a structure that is located directly behind the home and known as "The Quarters."


Glenwood 

John C. Norman, West Virginia’s first registered African
American architect, designed the Staats Hospital Building in 1922 for the
Staats brothers. The four-story structure originally housed the Glendale Lodge
of the Knights of Pythias on the fourth floor, while the fraternity’s banquet
room, kitchen, serving room, reading room, pool and billard room, cigar counter
was located on the third floor. The West Side’s first theatre was located on
the building’s first floor, along with an ice cream parlor and a confectionary.
Before transitioning to a hospital, the first floor was also a temporary
location for Kelley’s Department Store and an A&amp;P grocer. Dr. Harlan Staats
utilized the second and third floors as a 67-bed hospital starting in 1923. In
1941, the Glendale Lodge of the Knights of Pythias moved out of the Staats
Hospital Building. Staats Hospital closed in the early 1980s, and St. Francis
Hospital utilized the building as St. Francis West Health Care. In 2010, Staats
only had one occupant: Dr. Adla Adi, who filed bankruptcy the same year. Adi
had only utilized the first floor of the building while the remaining floors
began to deteriorate.

Adi had plans to raze the building in the early 2000s, but
somehow his plans fell through. In 2012, the Staats Hospital Building was
placed on the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia’s Endangered Properties
List, which raised awareness of the property that led to developer inquiries.
John and Tighe Bullock of then Bullock Properties LLC, began the purchasing
process from American Pride Properties in May of 2014. American Pride
Properties gained ownership of the building in 2010. The Bullocks had
previously restored two other structures on the West Side of Charleston prior
to starting the Staats project. After discussions of restoration with the
Charleston Urban Renewal Authority, the Bullocks secured a public/private partnership
that included a $230,000 secured loan from CURA, as well as a $155,000 loan
from the First State Bank of Charleston, a matching
grant of $78,000 from the West Virginia Historic Preservation Office, and
another matching grant of $20,000 from CURA to restore the roof. Crawford
Holdings was established by Tighe Bullock as the purchasing entity at the
closing of the sale. 

Initial renovation efforts included cleaning out the trash
that had accumulated over the years, and restoring the roof. The structure of
the building has not deteriorated; many of the improvements will deal with the
interior, such as removing graffiti, restoring the tin ceilings, and repairing
water damage. Bullock has since taken on other projects on the West Side of
Charleston with intentions of improving the entire neighborhood, and has been
working with historic preservation consultant, Mike Gioulis, to ensure proper
restorations.&nbsp;

The Staats Hospital Building was designed by John C. Norman, the first registered African American architect in West Virginia, in 1922. Originally, the structure housed the Glendale Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, the West Side’s first movie theatre, offices and retailers. The second and third floor of the structure was utilized as Staats Hospital from the early 1920s until 1982. The Staats Hospital Building began to deteriorate after the removal of Staats, and after being placed on the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia’s Endangered Properties List, it is currently in the process of being restored. Crawford Holdings purchased the building in 2014, and has used multiple grants to aid in the preservation process.

Staats Hospital Building

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

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

Anderson Hunt Brown, a son of former slaves, was an African American businessman who began working as a butcher and musician and investing in real estate.&nbsp; In partnership with Gurnett E. Ferguson, who built the Ferguson Hotel (an African American hotel) on Washington Street, Anderson Brown constructed a building during the middle to late twenties.&nbsp; The original Brown Building adjoined the Ferguson Hotel on Washington Street and turning down the corner on Shrewsbury Street, making the hotel and building two of the major social and economic centers in “The Block”. &nbsp;“The Block”, located in the capital city of The State of West Virginia and a 2011 state &amp; city recognized local historic district, is a 25-acre tract of land bounded by Washington, Shrewsbury, Lewis and Leon Sullivan streets.&nbsp; It was a residential, social, economic, educational and religious center of the African-American population of the city during Jim Crow laws and segregation, as well as the home for other ethnic groups.&nbsp; &nbsp;Mr. Anderson Brown described in 1973 in an audio interview with his daughter, Della Brown Taylor (Hardman) – “Ferguson was going to build a hotel. . .I’ll build some business rooms. . .there was a drug store, barber shop, laundry, office room, hot dog stand, shoe repair shop, taxi stand and a printing shop.”1 

&nbsp;The original Brown Building (1920’s to 1960’s) became one of the social and economic centers of a culturally diverse area and the hub of activity for African American culture in “The Block”.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; James D. Randall and Anna Evans Gilmer in their book, Black Past describe the activity – “Located here was the famous M&amp;S Pharmacy. . .No better hot dogs could be found anywhere than at the M&amp;S.&nbsp; The events of the day were relived here nightly. Likewise, the older men would gather in Mr. Brown’s Real Estate Office to do the same. &nbsp;Mr. Brown could be found from early morning through late evening in his office, which was shared with his son, Attorney Willard Brown.&nbsp; A restaurant adjoined the M&amp;S, and then a beauty shop. . .Charlie Ruly operated a small printing shop in another storeroom.&nbsp; When Mr. Ruly moved, that space was utilized as an art gallery, Le Petite Galerie, by Mr. Brown’s daughter, Della Brown Taylor, after she and her family returned to Charleston in 1956.&nbsp; It featured original works of Black artists from across the nation.&nbsp; Along the Shrewsbury Street side, there were a number of different businesses through the years.”2&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; 

&nbsp;In the 1960’s a fire partially destroyed the Ferguson Hotel on Washington Street adjoining the original Brown Building.&nbsp; As a result, Mr. Ferguson sold to another hotel business.&nbsp; Anderson Brown describing that time to his daughter said, “they came to me, and I insisted they would have to pay my price”.&nbsp; After several offers, Mr. Brown sold the original Brown Building.&nbsp; A second Brown Building located on Shrewsbury Street was built and completed in 1971.&nbsp; Work on the building was done entirely by African American businesses, contractors, and sub-contractors.&nbsp; For a few years before his death in 1974, Mr. Anderson Brown maintained an office in the new building, along with his Attorney son, Willard Brown and his daughter, Della Brown Taylor.&nbsp; Other offices have included a barber shop, doctor’s office, real estate office, and some government offices.&nbsp; A trust was established and the building was turned over to the Charleston National Bank.3

&nbsp;Anderson Hunt Brown was born in 1880 to former slaves, Henry Arnold Brown &amp; Margaret Stewart Brown.&nbsp; They were freed in 1865 and located in an area known as Dutch Holler, now part of Dunbar WV, where Anderson Hunt Brown was born.&nbsp; The family moved to Charleston where his father worked as a janitor and later on a farm in Dunbar, near the present location of West Virginia State University at Institute, WV. &nbsp;His mother wanted her children to have an education and in order to arrange for tutoring, she took in laundry.4&nbsp; Because of the death of a brother, who had relocated to Colorado, Anderson Brown acquired from his estate some resources to begin going into some form of business for himself.&nbsp; He was a musician and traveled part-time with some bands.&nbsp; He got into the meat market business as a butcher.&nbsp; He was later able to buy the meat market and began renting a house he owned. &nbsp;Mr. Brown became over the years a successful businessman and real estate owner.&nbsp; Married twice, he was the father of two children – Willard Brown, who became an attorney and Della Brown Taylor Hardman, who was an artist and became a professor at West Virginia State University.



&nbsp;Mr. Anderson H. Brown was a civil rights leader in the community who was first involved in a 1928 lawsuit against the Board of Education and the Kanawha Public Library for denying African Americans access to the public library and later with the NAACP locally and nationally. &nbsp;Mr. Brown with the Charleston WV branch of the NAACP initiated a lawsuit against the school district and the library when three African American citizens were refused entry to the public library.&nbsp; They were refused the books, papers and magazines and the right to sit in the library. &nbsp;The original case was brought before the Circuit Court judge in Kanawha County and the judge ruled that the Board was not in violation of the law.&nbsp; The African American lawyers, along with Anderson H. Brown, took the case to the West Virginia State Supreme Court of Appeals.&nbsp; “The Supreme Court ruled in Anderson Brown’s favor by saying that – ‘the Board of Education could not exclude colored people from using the Kanawha County Library’.”5 &nbsp;

The original 1920s Brown Building in The Block, a predominately African American neighborhood and business locations, was built by Anderson Hunt Brown, an African American real estate businessman, and son of former slaves.  A second building was built after the 1960s following the purchase of the original.  Anderson Brown was a prominent realtor and Civil Rights activist.  His real estate included primary locations of many of the original businesses in The Block.  Mr.Brown was one of the petitioners in a  West Virginia lawsuit "Brown vs Kanawha County Board of Education" over the denial of Black persons to use the Kanawha County Public Library (West Virginia's own Brown vs Board of Education, like that of the famous Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka, KS).   

Anderson H. Brown Building(s)

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

The Charleston Woman’s Improvement League was founded by nine prominent local women: Mattie V. Lee, Fannie Cobb Carter, Blanche Jefferies Tyler, Nan Lou Stephenson, Mary Kimbrough, Mary L. Clark, Ammie Hopkins, Sarah Bullard, and Rebecca Bullard. The organization was established as a self-help civic organization that was open to any African American woman who was willing to work for a civic cause. The organization provided opportunities for Black women that they may not have found elsewhere in the community. The members had leadership roles and were highly involved in the decisions made on behalf of the organization. There was a purpose behind naming the group “Woman’s” instead of “Women’s." By using the singular form, emphasis was placed not only on the group, but also the individual’s obligation to improve themselves and the public. The club took their motto, “Lifting as We Climb,” from the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) to encourage members to work to improve others’ lives as well as their own.Early on, the organization met in local churches. Under the leadership of President Spaulding, the group purchased a building on East Washington Street. The group hosted their meetings and activities in this building and rented it out to other community members for events.The organization was involved in numerous community service project such as providing supplies to Black schools and hospitals, sponsoring scholarships, and compiling a resource guide for the local Black community. Wanting to expand opportunities for the next generation, the Charleston Woman’s Improvement League established programs for young girls. First established was the Polly Pigtail Club, followed by the League Teens. In 1998, the organization celebrated their 100th anniversary and is still operating today.The Woman's Suffrage Movement:The National Association of Colored Women (NACW) was founded in 1895 to provide an umbrella organization for African American women’s clubs. American segregation meant that African American women were not welcome in white women’s clubs, and had to form their own. For African American women, club work was not aimed only at gaining suffrage or pressuring for social justice legislation. Due to segregation, inequity, and violence, Black women focused on a wide range of social issues such as education, medical care, vocational training, and community services, and they focused on creating a community support system because they could not always rely on public institution or local governments. Women’s suffrage was a main interest of the NACW in addition to matters such as fighting Jim Crow laws, condemning racial violence, and other inequalities faced by the African American community in the United States. The leadership of the NACW recognized the need to work in coordination with the National American Woman Suffrage Association on the cause of suffrage. Mary Church Terrell, one of the NACW founders, spoke before the NAWSA to urge the larger suffrage organization to push for equal suffrage for all women. Unfortunately, many white women’s suffrage organizations were either unwelcoming to African American women, had a problematic history with racial issues, or even argued for white women’s suffrage to further outweigh the vote of Black men and support white supremacy. The NAWSA accepted the racial prejudices of the southern states in order to produce a united national front to gain women’s suffrage. This meant that African American women were marginalized within the national suffrage movement and largely worked within their own communities and organization to support equal suffrage for Black men and women.

In 1898, Black women in Charleston, West Virginia, organized a self-help civic organization called the Charleston Woman’s Improvement League. The League sponsored cultural events, supported education, and promoted a variety of causes that were important to members of the city's African American community. The women were particularly active in mentoring young women, creating two auxiliary organizations: Polly Pigtails for children and the League Teens for young women.

Charleston Woman's Improvement League

<blockquote>"There's apparently no way that we can have law and order. Mobs are ruling and we're extremely afraid somebody will be hurt."1</blockquote> Less than 3 months after protests began over the adoption of new textbooks in Kanawha County, these were the words used by county school superintendent Kenneth Underwood to explain why schools were to be closed for four days in September of 1974. In a school board meeting of April that year, the vote to adopt these new textbooks--which included more multiracial content,&nbsp;had passed unanimously due to the urgency of securing state funding.&nbsp;Upon discovering&nbsp;excerpts from scholars such as&nbsp;Sigmund Freud, the inclusion of scientific evidence to support the theory of evolution, and selections from books such as&nbsp;The Autobiography of Malcolm X, some Charleston residents and educators wished to return to older textbooks that had been produced in the 1950s.&nbsp;Board member Alice Moore strongly objected to the content of the new textbooks and demanded they be removed. According to Moore, the new books were&nbsp;"filthy, disgusting trash." She was particularly concerned that the new books presented a view of American history and culture that "unduly&nbsp;favor[ed] Blacks."&nbsp;&nbsp; Moore was overruled by her peers, who believed that the books were appropriate and offered a needed corrective to some of the older books that presented slavery as a benign institution. Moore decided to take her message directly to constituents. Campaigning in evangelical churches and rural communities soon framed the issue as one of conservative, traditional values against liberal intellectual urban elites. Despite the presence of a thousand protesters outside the school board meeting in&nbsp;June, the board continued to support the new books. In return, Moore and her supporters vowed to increase pressure on the board to accept their point of view by any means necessary.&nbsp;2 &nbsp;By July, protests against the book were being held around the city and county. The textbooks were condemned by 27 ministers, while ten ministers who reviewed the books took the side of the educators and administrators.&nbsp;Marvin Horan, a self-taught Christian fundamentalist preacher, soon emerged as one of the most outspoken voices calling for the removal of the textbooks. With Horan and others taking control of the movement, protesters began calling for the books to be set on fire. Others vowed to "shut down the schools" unless the school board replaced the books.&nbsp;Business owners who supported the school board and teachers were picketed. Protesters even blocked roads to prevent school buses from taking children to school. By early September, more than 3,000 West Virginia miners in surrounding coal field joined the protests. An&nbsp;agreement by the school board to remove the books from schools until further review failed to&nbsp;placate the picketers as the original concerns about the content of the books exploded into an angry protest against the perception that America was changing in ways that might lessen the authority of conservative Christians and create advantages for minorities. School children typically sided with their parents, but when the announcement was made that books were to be removed, 1,200 students walked out of George Washington High School and demanded the right to be taught with current textbooks that reflected the most current scientific theories and included diverse perspectives.&nbsp;&nbsp; <blockquote>"So began a season of marches, parades, rallies, scuffles, shootings, fistfights, strikes, picketing, boycotts, debates, arrests, lawsuits, court orders and angry sermons. One preacher prayed fervently and publicly for the death of three school board members."4</blockquote>In October&nbsp;1974, a small number of the anti-textbook coalition decided to commit acts of&nbsp;violence against property in hopes of intimidating their opponents. Against the wished of many who agreed with their position, a small number of anti-textbook protesters conspired to bomb several of the county's public schools with dynamite and molotov cocktails. Fifteen sticks of dynamite were detonated near the gas meter at the Board of Education offices. Despite the damage to the building and potential devastation of the attack, no&nbsp;one was injured. On Nov. 8th, the School Board held its usual meeting--this time in the Charleston Civic Center due to complaints that its normal venue (in the Board of Education offices) was too small to accommodate concerned citizens. Despite the large venue, fewer than 100 constituents showed up due to fears of violence by anti-textbook forces.&nbsp;The school board, having now reviewed the books for two months, voted to reinstate most of the books&nbsp;in the county&nbsp;schools. In hopes of placating the protesters without risking the education of the county's children, the board agreed to require parental permission to check out some of the books the school had acquired for their libraries. In response, anti-textbook protesters escalated their violence by attacking people instead of only attacking property. After threatening to attack school bus drivers, militant&nbsp;anti-textbook protesters&nbsp;fired weapons at police officers who had been ordered to escort school buses to protect the drivers and children. One protesters even fired shots directly at a&nbsp;school bus, but no one was harmed.&nbsp; Fears of escalating violence led to another meeting and a vote to approve guidelines set forward by Alice Moore prohibiting texts that "pry into home life; teach racial hatred; undermine religious, ethnic, or racial groups; encourage sedition; insult patriotism; teach that an alien form of government is acceptable; use the name of God in vain; or use offensive language."3 Dismayed that the new books continued to be used, protests continued throughout the fall and winter. By the end of the year, members of the Ku Klux Klan joined the protesters and burned crosses in Charleston in an effort to strike fear in the hearts of those who supported the books.&nbsp;In January 1975 Reverend Horan, one of the most prominent anti-textbook leaders, was indicted with five other men for conspiracy to bomb several schools and school buses. Horan was considered a martyr by many in the anti-textbook cause,&nbsp;but his sentencing in April 1975 to three years in prison effectively ended the majority of protesting. The textbooks remained in circulation, but principals of individual schools were given power of veto their use in classes and even ban them from school&nbsp;libraries. As a result,&nbsp;many of the rural schools where protest had been most vehement did not accept the new material. A sharp rise in Christian private schools also resulted from the withdrawing of many students from the public school system. Some scholars have pointed to the Textbook Controversy as the opening shots in the late-20th century "culture wars" that have defined the current&nbsp;secular left and religious right sociopolitical spectrum.6 &nbsp;

When the Kanawha County Board of Education introduced new textbooks in June 1974, few could have predicted the resulting controversy. The decision was viewed as a routine matter by each board members until a handful of residents spoke in opposition to the inclusion of information related to the history, culture, and perspectives of minorities. School board member Alice Moore took up the cause of those who were concerned by the new books and her actions and those of others inspired newspaper ads and protests against the new books. Within weeks, some of the more militant opponents of the new books were engaged in physical fights with the defenders of the books. Community members marched with Confederate flags and members of the Ku Klux Klan descended upon the city threatening violence to anyone who opposed them. The violent rhetoric spawned death threats, shootings, and even the bombing of school buildings. A year of tension, violence, and arrests including attacks on school buses carrying children, attacks on the police, and even the bombing of several elementary schools and the Board of Education building. The event is known today as the "Kanawha County Textbook Controversy," a name that may fail to adequately describe the one-sided nature of the anti-intellectualism and racism that led to acts of violence against educators and schools.

Social History of Charleston, West Virginia

First Baptist Church

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources