Month: October 2011

Hallowell School – 1893 Teachers’ Census

Hallowell Public Black School for Girls

George L. Seaton built another School in the City of Alexandria for black girls.  The Freedmen Bureau funded the Hallowell School in 1867.   The basic design of the school was similar to the Snowden School.  The school was located on North Alfred Street, between Princess and Oronoco Streets. 

Prior to Sarah A. Gray becoming the principal of Hallowell School, Mrs. Matilda A. Madden was the principal and her assistant teachers were Mrs. Jane A. Crouch and Miss Harriett Douglas.

Hallowell was sometime called “Lee School, just like Snowden School was known by another name.  It is unknown why Hallowell was referred to as the Lee School.  When the City of Alexandria took over the Black Girls School, the School was named Hallowell after a white educator in Alexandria.

Alexandria Black Girls School
1893 Hallowell School Teacher Census

Every school year, the State of Virginia required all counties to provide a school census of their teachers.  The 1893 School year for the City of Alexandria School listed the following teachers for Hallowell School:

 Mrs. Louisa R. Cabainss – 1906 K Street, N.W., Washington, DC

Mrs. Rosetta L. Holland – 315 South Royal Street, Alexandria, VA

Miss Margaret E. Darnell – 117 South West Street, Alexandria, VA

Miss Bessie K. Spriggs – 602 South Washington Street, Alexandria, VA

Miss Sarah J. Derrick – 610 Gibbon Street, Alexandria, VA

Miss Sarah A. Gray – Pleasant View, Alexandria County

Mrs. Harriet E. Thornton, Substitute – 323 North Patrick Street, Alexandria, VA

Miss Maggie A. White – 1016 Queen Street, Alexandria, VA

Snowden School – 1893 Teachers’ Census

Snowden Public Black School for Boys

Shortly after the civil war in 1867, the Freedmen Bureau commissioned George L. Seaton to build two schools for the African Americans in the City of Alexandria.  George, a highly respected African American carpenter built the Snowden School for boys located at Pitt Street between Gibbon and Franklin Streets.  The school was a two-story built frame building with six classrooms.

The first principal of Snowden School was William F. Powell and his assistant teachers were Miss Sarah A. Gray and Miss Carrie Claggett.  Snowden School had a Black Board of Trustees that continued to monitor the Black Education in the City of Alexandria.

Prior to the Snowden School becoming the Black Boys Public School in Alexandria, it was known as the, “Seaton School.”  Once the City of Alexandria took over the School building, the School was named Snowden, after a white educator in Alexandria, but many people referred to the Schoolhouse as the “Seaton Building.”

Alexandria Black Boys School
1893 Snowden School Teachers' Census

Every school year, the State of Virginia required all counties to provide a school census of their teachers.  The 1893 School year for the City of Alexandria School listed the following teachers for Snowden School:

Mr. John F. Parker – 810 North Columbus Street, Alexandria, VA

Mr. William H. Madella – 217 South Alfred Street, Alexandria, VA

Mr. Patrick H. Lumpkin – 810 Queen Street, Alexandria, VA

Mr. Norman B. Pinn – 816 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA

Mr. Richard A. Diggs – 325 South Alfred Street, Alexandria, VA

Mr. Ros(z)ier D. Lyles – 405 North Alfred Street, Alexandria, VA

Mr. Robert B. Thompson, Substitute – 500 block of North Columbus Street

1920 Parker-Gray Class

Front Row Left to Right: Reverend A.W. Adkins, Henry T. White, Laura Dorsey, Rozier D. Lyles and James E. Howard. Back Left Row: Mayme Anderson, Margaret Young, Florence Murray, Harriet E. Thornton, Susie Madden and Sarah D. Gray

Prior to 1920, a group of concerned African American citizens which included Reverend Samuel B. Ross, Samuel Tucker, Henry Taylor, Blanche Parker Taylor and the alumni from the Hallowell and Snowden Schools pressured the City of Alexandria for a new school building.  By 1920, the African American community had a new school located at Alfred and Wythe Streets.  The school was named after two former principals at Snowden and Hallowell Schools, John F. Parker and Sarah A. Gray.

The First Faculty at Parker-Gray School included one principal and ten teachers in 1920. 

Mr. Henry T. White – Principal – taught 7th grade

Reverend Andrew Warren (A.W.) Adkins – taught 4th and 5th grades

Mrs. Mayme Anderson – taught 5th grade

Miss Laura A.  Dorsey – taught 1st grade

Mrs. Sarah D. Gray – taught 3rd grade

Mr. James E. Howard – taught 3rd grade

Mr. Rozier D. Lyles – taught 6th grade

Mrs. Susie Madden – taught 2nd grade

Mrs. Florence Murray – taught 2nd grade

Mrs. Harriet E. Thornton – taught 5th grade

Mrs. Margaret Young – taught 1st grade

Welcome

I developed this site because of the love I have for African American (Black) History of Alexandria, Virginia.   I learned very little Black history when I was growing up in the late 1950s and the early 1970s.  The history I remember about Alexandria is about our first President, George Washington and his connection to the City of Alexandria.

Mr. Roger Anderson, a City employee, sponsored a Black History tour of Old Town Alexandria in 1985.  I was amazed by the rich history Mr. Anderson shared with us.  I wanted to know why Alexandria’s Black history was not included in the public school curriculum when I was growing up.  Mr. Anderson said that many of the teachers and the Black community did not know about the contributions African Americans made in Alexandria.

I have had many job opportunities since my first Black History tour in Alexandria.  I have been a volunteer genealogist with the Alexandria Black History Museum for more than 20 years.  I served as a board member on “The Friends of Freedmen’s Cemetery,” from 1997 – 2002.  Then in 2008, I was given a rare opportunity that many genealogists and historians would relish.  The City of Alexandria Archaeology Department asked me to locate descendants of a civil war era Freedmen Cemetery where 1200 people were buried between 1863 to 1868.

This web site blog is an outgrowth of my genealogical research projects in Alexandria that cover the period from 1860 to 1965.  If you are a native Alexandrian, a tourist or a lover of history, visit my web site regularly, and I am sure you will find quite a bit on African American history in Alexandria that you were not aware of.  The site includes a Home page, an About Us page, a Black People of Alexandria page, and other pages like Churches, Education, Businesses, Neighborhoods, Cemeteries and Lectures.  Better still, visit Alexandria, Virginia, walk the Streets that George Washington walked on, and check out “The Other Alexandria” that the African Americans left behind.

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