Osher comes to Goochland

 

On the rainy Thursday afternoon of April 7, members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Richmond trekked to Goochland to visit one of the county's treasures, the Second Union Rosenwald School Museum on Hadensville-Fife Road.

Calvin Hopkins, President of SURSM (l)

Calvin Hopkins, President of the SURSM Board of Directors, welcomed Osher members. Hopkins, who attended both Second Union and Central High School, returned to Goochland after he retired from the Air Force. He was instrumental in preserving the structure and all that is represents, when Second Union Church considered removing it to pave the parking lot.

Rosenwald Schools were the product of an alliance between Booker T. Washington and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, a part owner of Sears, Roebuck and Company, which built schools to educate African American children in the segregated south.

An Osher student looks at the artifact display.

Second Union School is one of a very few remining Rosenwald Schools in its original location. After desegregation, many of the Rosenwald Schools were sold, moved, or torn down. In order to bring a Rosenwald school to a community, contributions from the African American community, local governing body were required. In-kind contributions of land, labor and general support of the school were involved in the program.

Second Union School was built in 1918 and taught children from the first to seventh grades until 1959, when county schools were integrated, and elementary students moved to nearby Byrd Elementary School. It was a two-room, two-teacher plan for about 50 students. Younger students were taught on one side of a moveable partition, where the chalkboards—the originals are still in place—were lower to accommodate their reach, older students on the other. After completing the grades at Second Union, students went on to Central High School, also segregated, the complete their education.

Second Union alumni collaborated with the Goochland Historical Society to obtain a grant from Lowe's and the National Trust for Historical Preservation to make badly needed repairs and transform the structure into a museum of the history of Black education. Grant money was used to repair the roof, exterior, and electrical work and other inside restorations.

A Virginia State Historical Marker at Second Union states: "Second Union School, which operated until 1959 is the oldest-surviving of the 10 Rosenwald schools built in Goochland County. The African American community and Goochland County contributed funds to the building. Constructed in 1918, the building is a one-story, two-room, two- teacher-plan school with a brick interior chimney on the rear wall. Original chalkboards survive in both rooms. The school is among 5,000 built using money and plans from the Julius Rosenwald Fund in 15 states including 367 in Virginia."

"Some of the best years of my life were spent here. We were poor, but happy poor. They taught me so much," Gail Smith, another Second Union School alumnus, said. She shared memories of her time at Second Union School, which was heated by a wood stove tended by students. Smith returned to her Goochland home after retiring from a successful career in banking and became involved in preservation efforts for the school. She credits the education, discipline, sense of self-worth, and appreciation of hard work that she received at Second Union School with preparing her to take her place in the world. The value that their parents, many of whom were illiterate, placed on education was an important factor in the success of the children who learned there.

Gail Smith recalls  happy times at  Second Union School.

SURSM today teaches about American History from various points of view, especially the struggles of African Americans from slavery to desegregation. Goochland students visit SURSM for interactive lessons about the school. It also awards scholarships to graduates of Goochland High School who have been accepted to accredited two- and four-year colleges.

Museum displays include artifacts from the school and information about Booker T. Washington's place in American history.

Please take some time to visit https://secondunionrosenwaldschool.org/  and listen to the oral history section.

For more information about the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Richmond, go to (https://spcs.richmond.edu/lifelong-learning/osher/)