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Christina Draper begins her lecture on Piedmont Christian Institute, a school for blacks in Martinsville that began in the early years of the 20th century. |
Friday, November 14, 2008
By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Black students came from as far as North Carolina and West Virginia to attend Piedmont Christian Institute (PCI) when it operated in Martinsville during the early 20th century, according to Christina Draper.
But for many years, PCI, the first high school established mainly to serve black students in Henry County and Martinsville, did not have a dormitory. Students traveled to and from the institute daily, and those from far away stayed with family or friends in the area, said Draper.
The school originially was known as the Martinsville Christian Institute.
Draper, who is pursuing a doctoral degree, aims to write a book about the institute using research she compiled for a college thesis. She related a brief history of PCI on Thursday at the New College Institute as part of the institute’s noncredit lecture series.
About 30 people attended her presentation, including several who attended the Henry County Training School, which succeeded PCI.
The school educated students from 1900 to 1934. It was founded by James H. Thomas, a Chatham native who came to Martinsville to be pastor of Fayette Street Christian Church, with help from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the Christian Women’s Board of Missions. Thomas was the institute’s sole principal.
When the school was founded, about 40 percent of black residents in the area were illiterate, compared with slightly more than 10 percent of white residents, according to historical records.
Amid segregation, black students had no public high school, and elementary schools they attended locally were underfunded and poorly equipped, as was the case in many areas of the South at that time, historical records show.
Although PCI was the first high school for black students locally, it was not the first school for blacks, Draper noted. There were the Martinsville Colored Grade School and the Spencer Street School in the city, and similar schools were in Ridgeway and the county’s Leatherwood and Chestnut Knob areas.
Eugene Spencer of Martinsville, who attended the lecture, said the institute also taught Native Americans with dark skin. He said his mother, Elsie Martin, is part Cherokee Indian and attended PCI.
By 1912-13, PCI had about 100 students and 33 alumni. PCI originally taught students in all grades, information supplied by Draper indicates.
Among its graduates in the late 1920s was William Hobson, Martinsville’s first black mayor.
Tuition at PCI in 1900 was 50 cents per month (roughly $12.37 in today’s dollars) for pupils in grades one through four, and $1 per month (about $24.61 today) for those beyond the fourth grade, historical records show.
The institute first was in the church’s basement, but in 1901, it moved into a separate building. By 1917, students were coming from miles around, and the school changed its name to Piedmont Christian Institute, in part to recognize the distance some students were traveling, Draper said.
Also that year, the community raised $1,000 to help PCI buy 28 acres on the corner of Fayette and Second streets for $3,250 for a new building.
Construction of the new building, which Draper said included living quarters for students, was from 1920 to 1923. The school suspended its operations during that time and was reorganized in 1924, records show.
Around 1928, PCI had eight faculty members, but it eliminated grades one through five to focus on the upper grades. Courses included English, algebra, geometry, biology, chemistry, history, French and Latin.
By 1930, PCI’s curriculum was recognized as equal to that offered by white schools, and diplomas conferred by the institute included the signature of Martinsville’s school superintendent, as well as Thomas.
Within three years, the institute had become known as Piedmont High School and was conferring “Commonwealth of Virginia” diplomas.
PCI closed in 1934 when the county bought the building and began operating the Henry County Training School there.
That is when the institute’s history becomes fuzzy, Draper said. Apparently some people still referred to it as Piedmont Christian for years to come.
The school building was destroyed by fire in 1948. The fire was not of a suspicious origin, Draper said, based on some Martinsville Bulletin reports of the blaze she has read.
Draper added that her research into PCI has become “a labor of love,” one that has helped her learn more about relatives and other people she knows who attended the institute.
Her grandfather, John H. Flood, graduated from the institute in 1930.
Sammy Redd, an outreach educator at the New College Institute, said that while there was a lack of education among many black residents in the early 1900s, PCI helped their children to better themselves.
PCI is “a fascinating, unique part of our culture here in Martinsville,” he said. |
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