Principal Henry T. White’s 1920 Parker-Gray Class

1920 Principal Henry T. White and First Faculty

Prior to 1920, the colored boys and girls of Alexandria were taught separately in two buildings.  The boys were in Snowden School, on the west side of South Pitt Street near Gibbon Street.  Mr. John F. Parker was principal of Snowden School.  The girls were in Hallowell School on, the east side of North Alfred Street between Princess and Oronoco Streets.  Mr. Henry T. White was their principal.

Mr. Henry T. White was selected to be the first principal of the combined schools of Snowden and Hallowell for black boys and black girls.  The school was named Parker-Gray School after Mr. John F. Parker and Miss Sarah A. Gray.  Ironically, Mr. John F. Parker’s declining health might have prevented the School Board for selecting him as the principal of the school that was named after him.

Mr. Henry T. White was born in 1862 in Pittsylvania, Virginia.  He was married to Marcella Mayhew.  He and his wife migrated to Alexandria in the late 1880s.  Though he was principal at Parker-Gray, he taught classes.  He taught 7^th and 8^th grades in 1920 – 1921 school year.  The students were:

Margaret Bell, age 15, grade 8^th

Thomas Bell, age 13, grade 7^th

Llewellyn Butler, age 14, grade 7^th

Corinne Byrd, age 13, grade 8^th

Ellen Carter, age 12, grade 7^th

Ida Colbert, age 15, grade 7^th

Elizabeth Contee, age 12, grade 7^th

Rosena Dixon, age 13, grade 7^th

William Ellis, age 13, grade 7^th

Rosier Gaddis, age 13, grade 7^th

Anna Gaines, age 15, grade 7^th

Ruth Gilliam, age 12, grade 7^th

Eva Hill, age 15, grade 7^th

Norris Hopkins, age 12, grade 7^th

Gladys Lewis, age 15, grade 8^th

Charles Lucas, age 12, grade 7^th

Patrick H. Lumpkins Jr., age 13, grade 8^th

Lucille Majors, age 15, grade 7^th

Wibrow Martin, age 15, grade 8^th

Edgar McGee, age 12, grade 7th

Elbert Norton, age 15, grade 8^th

Nannie Parker, age 14, grade 7^th

James Redd, age 13, grade 7^th

Mildred Russell, age 14, grade 7^th

Samuel Shanklin, age 15, grade 7^th

Esther Speaks, age 12, grade 7^th

Florence Stewart, age 15, grade 8^th

Richard Strange, age 15, grade 7^th

Wallace Strange, age 12, grade 7^th

Ernest Turner, age 15, grade 7^th

Edmonia Washington, age 15, grade 7^th

Kathleen V. White, age 13, grade 7^th

Eliza Whitmore, age 15, grade 7^th

Marie Jones, age 14, grade 7^th