The Madison County African American Historical Association (MCAAHA) has announced that the organization has received a $5,000 grant from the Northern Piedmont Community Foundation. The grant will help fund a new exhibition that will chronicle the history of local African American schools. Entitled Striving for Excellence: A Century of African American Schools in Madison County, the exhibition will highlight schools for Black students beginning with a one-room schoolhouse in town in 1868 and continuing through the closing of the George Washington Carver Regional High School in 1968.
MCAAHA volunteers are researching the history of several “field schools” for African American students that were scattered throughout the county. Most were primitive, one-room structures, and few remain standing today. Research to date has included extensive review of archival documents, including decades of school board minutes and reports, newspaper articles, and correspondence, as well as interviews with former students of the segregated schools.
A Legacy of Excellence…and Perseverance
The exhibition will open in mid-2026, and will include information on the teachers, students, curriculum, and buildings of the era. Highlights will include an overview of the “Colored Parents Leagues” that advocated for improvements to the schools, and the dedicated work of the community leaders who led the effort to create the George Washington Carver Regional High School, which opened in 1948.
In addition to the exhibition, to be located at the organization’s lodge hall museum on Main Street, MCAAHA is planning virtual and traveling exhibitions, a panel discussion and reunion event, and educational materials for students. An interpretive marker is also planned for the former Madison Training School, which opened in 1937 to provide vocational education for students after graduating from grammar school. The building, located on Thrift Road, is now owned by Encompass Community Supports.
Seeking Stories of the Past
MCAAHA seeks input for the development of the exhibition, including photos, documents, and artifacts, as well as volunteers for the exhibition’s oral history series. The organization may be contacted at mcaaha@gmail.com.
The mission of MCAAHA is to honor and preserve the rich history of African Americans in Madison County, and to foster greater understanding and appreciation of African American contributions to the community. More information may be found at mcaaha.org.
The Northern Piedmont Community Foundation was launched in December 2000 to help meet charitable needs in Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison, and Rappahannock counties. The organization’s funds have grown to nearly $40 million in support of local charities, scholarships, and community needs in the northern Piedmont region.
