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Luther Jackson Middle School

GPS Coordinates: 38.8683741, -77.2282108
Closest Address: 3020 Gallows Road, Falls Church, VA 22042

Luther Jackson Middle School

Here follows a history of the school as published on the Fairfax County Public Schools website:

Luther Jackson School has a varied and unique history. It is presently a vibrant middle school located in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., our nation's capital, in Fairfax County, Virginia. Luther Porter Jackson High School opened in September 1954 as the high school for Black students in Fairfax County. Prior to this time, Black students attended high school in Washington, D.C. or were transported to the Industrial School of Manassas. When Fairfax County Public Schools integrated, the school opened as Luther Jackson Intermediate School in September 1965. Taylor M. Williams was the only principal of Luther Jackson High School and later served as Area I Superintendent. A showcase in the foyer proudly displays archival information of Luther Jackson, the school.

The school has been renovated and modernized several times during its history. From its original enrollment of 400 plus students, the school has steadily grown to today's student enrollment of more than 1,100 students representing a multicultural population of 60 countries and 49 languages. The school has been recognized for its many achievements and friendly open atmosphere. During spring 1996, it was selected for a visit from our First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who also chaired a televised Luther Jackson forum. In 1997, Luther Jackson was selected for national recognition as one of only five schools in the United States to receive the nationally recognized award of "School of Excellence" presented by the Hispanic Magazine and Ryder System, Inc. This included not only an attractive plaque, but also a visit and luncheon at the White House for several of our staff members. In addition, a number of our staff and students have been honored for excellence. Since February 1981, the Fairfax County School Board has called Luther Jackson "home". Members of the community recognize the school as "the place where the School Board meets." We invite you to explore some facets of our unique and fascinating history.

Our Namesake
Dr. Luther P. Jackson, for whom our school was named, distinguished himself as a historian and educator whose nationally recognized writings identified the contributions of African-Americans in Virginia's history. He headed the History Department at Virginia State College in Petersburg, provided leadership in the Virginia Teachers Association, organized the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and established the Negro Voters League of Virginia. The N.A.A.C.P. recognized his efforts to enhance the voting rights of African-Americans in Virginia. He contributed numerous articles to the Norfolk Journal and Guide concerning the responsibilities of citizenship in a democracy. This scholar, man of action, and model of character continues to be an inspiration to the community, staff and students of the school that proudly bears his name.

Watch this short biography of Dr. Luther P. Jackson to learn about his life and his efforts to improve the lives of African-Americans in Virginia and the United States.

Luther Jackson Middle School opened in 1965. The school is named for Dr. Luther Porter Jackson, a prominent educator, historian, and community activist. Dr. Jackson was born in 1892 in Lexington, Kentucky. His parents, Delilah Culverson and Edward Jackson, were former slaves. Dr. Jackson attended the Chandler Normal School in Lexington, and upon graduation in 1910 enrolled at Fisk University where he obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees in education. In 1915, at age 23, Dr. Jackson began his teaching career at Voorhees Industrial School, located in Denmark, South Carolina. Desiring to further his education, Dr. Jackson enrolled at Columbia University in New York, graduating from their Teacher's College with his second master's degree in 1922. Soon afterward, Dr. Jackson joined the faculty of the Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute, the historically black college in Petersburg, Virginia now known as Virginia State University. Also, in 1922, Dr. Jackson married Johnnella Frazer, a music professor whom he met while at Fisk University, and the couple had four children. From 1923 to 1928, Dr. Jackson was the head of Virginia Institute’s high school. By 1930, he had joined the college's history department as a professor. In 1935, Jackson's good friend Carter G. Woodson, an African-American historian, author, and journalist, asked him to chair the Virginia chapter of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Two years later, Jackson earned his doctoral degree in history from the University of Chicago. Dr. Jackson devoted his life to researching, documenting, and sharing the untold history of African Americans. He published numerous articles, pamphlets, and books about African-American history, including such titles as, "Free Negro Labor and Property Holding in Virginia," and "Virginia Negro Soldiers and Seamen in the American Revolution." As a community activist, Dr. Jackson was deeply concerned about the numerous obstacles that were placed to constrain the voting rights of African-Americans, and in 1941 he organized the Petersburg League of Voters, which later expanded to become the Virginia League of Voters. Dr. Jackson passed away in April 1950 and was buried at Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia. Four years later, Fairfax County's first, and only, all African-American high school opened. The school was named in honor of Dr. Luther Porter Jackson, and he continues to be an inspiration to the students and staff of the middle school that proudly bears his name.
For a deeper understanding of Dr. Jackson's life and his contributions to African-American history, visit Virginia State University where you can explore their vast collection of Luther Jackson's manuscripts, letters, research notes, and personal memorabilia.

Dr. Jackson would be proud of the school that bears his name. Today's students, faculty, staff, and community continue to be devoted and dedicated to the tradition and standards of excellence that he inspired.

When you research the history of Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) during the period of 1870 to 1970, you will invariably encounter racially-charged language that is archaic and often problematic by modern standards. In particular, the primary source documents from the period use the terms “Colored” and “Negro” to commonly describe students and schools. In the following text, these words have been italicized to indicate they are being used in the historically correct context.

The Public Free Schools of Virginia
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) was founded in 1870 with the passage of the Public Free Schools Act and the ratification of the new Virginia constitution. The Public Free Schools law required school districts to operate separate schools for white and African-American children. From 1870 to 1907, public education in Fairfax County was limited to an elementary education consisting of grades 1-7. The first public high schools in Fairfax County began operation in 1907. However, from 1907 to 1954, there was no public high school in Fairfax County for African-American children. African-Americans who wanted to continue their education beyond the seventh grade had to pay tuition to attend high school in Washington, D.C., or a regional high school in Manassas.

Pictured above is a letter from prominent FCPS African-American educators to the School Board in May 1932, requesting the introduction of the eighth grade for African-American children. The educators who signed the petition were Louise R. Archer, Diana B. Brooks, Mary Ellen Henderson, Minnie E. Hughes, Lucinda O. Thomas. Courtesy of the Virginia Room, Fairfax County Public Library.

The Manassas Industrial School
During the 1937-38 school year, the Fairfax County School Board began paying tuition for African-American children from Fairfax County to attend the Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth in Prince William County, Virginia. Opened in 1894, the Manassas Industrial School was founded by Jennie Dean, a proponent of higher education for African-Americans. The Manassas Industrial School originally operated as a private school. In June 1938, the Fairfax County School Board, along with the school boards of Fauquier County and Prince William County, entered into an agreement to jointly purchase the Manassas Industrial School and operate it as a regional public high school for African-American children. Students from Fairfax County were bused to and from the school daily. In this video, former FCPS students describe the bus trip to Manassas.

The Founding of Luther Jackson High School
In March 1948, a delegation of African-American residents of Fairfax County addressed the School Board and presented a resolution which expressed in detail the community’s desire that a high school for African-American children be constructed in Fairfax County. A transcript of the resolution can be found on our sources page. In October 1948, FCPS Superintendent W. T. Woodson presented the School Board with a list of new schools he felt would need to be constructed in Fairfax County in the near future. Superintendent Woodson’s list included the construction of a new high school for African-American children within five to ten years at an estimated cost of $700,000.

In June 1945 there were 8,235 children enrolled in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) at 42 schools. By June 1949 enrollment had increased to 12,118 children, but there were still only 42 schools in operation. A school bond referendum was held on May 30, 1950, and Fairfax County voters, by a margin of 2-1, approved $10.5 million in emergency school construction. However, the sale of the bonds was held up for one year due to a lawsuit contesting the validity of the bond issue. The lawsuit delayed the desperately-needed construction of 18 new schools and additions to 20 schools.

Some of the construction projects funded by the 1950 bond issue were four new elementary schools for African-American children (Drew-Smith, Eleven Oaks, Lillian Carey, and Oak Grove) and Luther Jackson High School.

The search for a location for the new high school began in November 1949. Sites along Shreve Road near Falls Church, Route 236 at Woodburn Road, and in Fairfax near present day George Mason University were considered, but ultimately a site in Merrifield on Gallows Road was chosen. In August 1951, with the assistance of the Tinner family of Falls Church, the School Board entered into an agreement to purchase 14.4 acres of land from Ottomarius Enid Stone Faison. An additional 6.5 acres of land was acquired from the Seoane family in February 1952.

In October 1951, the School Board assigned architect Earl B. Bailey to design the new high school at Merrifield. The Board later directed Bailey to include in his plans an elementary school wing to house students.

The elementary classroom wing, in use at Luther Jackson from 1954 to 1957, made it possible for the School Board to close the two-room Merrifield Colored School.

The contract for the construction of the Merrifield Negro High School, as it was known at the time, was awarded on December 18, 1952, to Eugene Simpson & Brother of Alexandria, Virginia.

The naming process for the high school at Merrifield began in July 1953. Two names were suggested early in the process: William A. West (a former FCPS teacher and resident of Vienna, Virginia who helped found the Fairfax County chapter of the N.A.A.C.P.) and Dr. Luther Porter Jackson. The majority of the community favored the name Luther P. Jackson, and the School Board officially named the school for him on December 1, 1953. In April 1954, Mr. Taylor M. Williams was appointed principal of Luther Jackson High School.

Principal Taylor M. Williams, November 12, 1958. Mr. Williams served as the principal of Luther Jackson High School from 1954 to 1965, and as the principal of Luther Jackson Intermediate School from 1965 to 1970. Courtesy of the Virginia Room, Fairfax County Public Library.

Luther Jackson High School opened on September 1, 1954. The school’s dedication ceremony was held on Sunday, April 17, 1955. The dedication program can be seen in the slideshow below.

Memories of Luther Jackson High School
In this video, alumni of Luther Jackson High School share their fond memories of the school:

Intro:
Luther Jackson was the jewel. It was it was the best thing that happened to the whole community - I mean the community! My parents were very proud of it. I was very proud of it. And we kept it that way.

What are your fond memories:
Well my fond memories were mainly the people, the teachers, and all the activities that I could join. I couldn't wait to get into ninth grade so I could play softball, or basketball, track.

How did you get to Luther Jackson:
I guess my fondest memory is just getting there because for me I was bused to Manassas for two years so Luther Jackson was heaven sent for me. Actually I could almost walk there from where I lived, and most the time I did, but just having that school there for all of us youngsters in Fairfax County, because we didn't have a high school. Some of our friends went to Washington and to other counties. Going to Luther Jackson, students came from all over the county because it was the only African-American high school for us to go to.

What was it like to go to Luther Jackson?
People came from Alexandria, Gum Springs, Falls Church, Vienna. We were from Fairfax. And that was the thing I liked - meeting everybody. That was the thing that was sort of neat because if you look at Luther Jackson and what I always say it's sort of like in the center with like a hub and all the spokes coming in from all over the county. Bailey's Crossroads down, the Route 1 Corridor, over to Chesterbrook, all the way out to Centreville. All of us would come every day we would mingle together. All the buses would come in and we knew black kids all over the county.

The camaraderie at Luther Jackson:
Each one of us from different areas, we learned there were other people in our same position in other places. Before we isolated like in Spring Bank and then suddenly there was the outside world and we learned there were other people like ourselves. I enjoyed though being up back then going to the black schools. The camaraderie was so great and the thing is I was always an explorer type of person, you know, and I said - man I met this guy. He's from Falls Church, you know. Well I met this guy from Bailey's Crossroads. And all the people from all over the area came to this one little school, you know. When I started at Bryant, well everybody from right around this little circle, but at the black school you'd meet people from Gum Springs, Spring Bank, Bailey's Crossroads, Falls Church, Merrifield. All the way out to like Chantilly. We had kids from Chantilly. Vienna. And I thought that was great to meet these people you know. We became friends for life! And we were really really into it. It was the best school spirit. You know nobody ever wanted to miss anything at that school. Oh we rocked it. We rocked it. The thing about it is we had everything. We did everything. We had drama. We had bands. We had competition with that. We had a choir. We had the science competition. We were in everything. Most of all the males there participated in some sports activities and it was encouraged and all the group stuff they got a lot of participation for a small school, you know the band and chorus and in football, basketball and everything. And that was everybody's social events or social part of growing up you would always attend. I mean we would catch the bus and go to Luther Jackson on a Saturday for a football game or something like that and even pack a lunch you know.

Luther Jackson sports:
We played all the sports and by the time we were seniors we were beating all of the teams around here that were you know really good teams. You know the whole community man they'd go, "You playing so on so Friday night? We're gonna be there!" And you got your guys from off the street corner there and I can remember we would play basketball games like T.C. or George Washington High School. I mean it's sold out at 6 o'clock. This is high school! You know, at 6 o'clock the little gymnasium is I mean slam packed. They had to lock the doors can't let anybody else in. You know it'd be people filling up the stands and all the way around the edges and that was the way in Alexandria in most of the places we would go to. One of the things that was part of our basketball thing was dunking the ball. The last class at Luther Jackson you know, on a 12 man squad, this high school, we had about eight guys that were dunking the ball and you know they'd bounce it off the backboard. And I mean the people would come for the dunk show sometime. And you know and I used to you know do these reverse dunks and stuff you know so - all of the Quander Road people could jump, but I think it was because we had to walk everywhere. And football was the same way back then you know. Friday nights I mean people were everywhere. The stands on both sides of the field were filled with visiting teams. Most of the teams we played against didn't have face masks. Nobody ever had a mouthpiece and you can hit somebody anywhere you know. You could go after their knees. You could hit them in the face with your elbow. I enjoyed knocking people out. I played offensive guard with no face guard. I played defensive linebacker, no face guard. We didn't have face guards. If you saw those helmets in that picture, that football picture. No face guard. And you'd have bloody noses and teeth knocked out and all this stuff, but it was football and that was manly thing to do, so we did it. When the boys played football and I joined the team washing they're football suit so I could get to go to the football game. My mom and them didn't have the money for me to go when they played, so I went along with other girls and boys - we'd wash the football uniforms and kept them clean and then when they played football we got to go to the game for free. We could only play schools that had all black players. We could play the D.C .schools like Spingarn, Armstrong, Chamberlain, Carver of Rockville - that was a black school, Pamunkey High School in Indian Head was a black school. So we'd go to Fredericksburg. We'd go to Richmond. And we'd go to Winchester, Virginia. Burr Hill. And you know they'd split the gate. So we would go to Roanoke because they'd have 15,000 people in the stands and so we'd split the gate and you know we'd have enough stuff to pay for a whole lot of stuff in the school, but that was nothing compared to Maggie Walker in Richmond. There would be 25,000 people at the gate. And when Maggie Walker and Armstrong the two Richmond schools played, there was 40,000 people at the games.

For me Luther Jackson was great. My mother drove the school bus, so we rode the school bus with my mother. Oh and I was a cheerleader. Uh oh. Yes. I forgot the cheerleading. That was great. We had to ride the bus forever going to some of the schools. A lot of times students weren't able to go to at school or after school events because you had to have the transportation to go to Luther Jackson High School, so because we were so scattered through the county a lot of us didn't go back for basketball games, football games, or anything like that, because we didn't have buses that would take us after school, uh home. Because we didn't have buses to transport us to practices and stuff like that, we had to figure out our own way how to get home from school after practices. And my mother drove a bus so she took a lot of the teams to these games and things, so I would hop in on those too you know. We would have a ride home. Yeah. Yeah. That was great. And they, you know, had no problem with me riding with her. She had the bus and everything was fine, so I was all over the place. Nobody would mess with Ms. Marshall anyhow. You know that. And then after graduation I became a school bus driver and I drove to Luther Jackson, and I was there until the school closed driving it. Sometimes some guy did that you didn't even know would come over and tell you what a great job you did and slap you on the hand and you realize you've got $20 in your hand. I mean we weren't doing anything illegal, but they were so proud of us you know for representing the community or something. You'd go in the barber shop and you know you're like a local hero. I think Luther Jackson groomed you for the world. Our teachers said that when you left their classroom you could go anywhere in the world and compete with anyone in the world. I'll give you an example I learned French at Luther Jackson High School. I didn't take any college French, but when I started to work at the library they gave me a sheet to translate and I translated it in French because that was what I knew best. You could choose any language. And believe it or not, facts and records will approve at the Library of Congress, they hired me, they hired me there as a GS-5, and using my language I retired as a GS-12 based upon what I learned at Luther Jackson High School. I did not take any college French classes. I learned my French at Luther Jackson. I remember Mr. Williams who was the principal. You know he was cool guy and everybody admired him because he was a dapper dresser and a really nice guy. Mr. Williams knew everybody and what was going on and he was just smart and he understood, like Mr. Woodson used to come to our school probably once a week at first. And he got more stuff from Mr. Woodson because Mr. Woodson didn't want us to be unhappy. So we always had brand-new football uniforms. You know most schools got football uniforms every three or four years. We got brand-new stuff every year. Basketball uniforms. We had everything. My favorite class was a business class, Mrs. Warren or Miss Warren actually she was at that time. She was my favorite teacher and I just loved her to death. And she would give me those passes that Mr. Williams would ask me, "Little girl where are you going?" I guess my favorite class of course was Gym - Ms Williams, because she was great. I liked Miss James, too.

Luther Jackson teachers:
My favorite teacher was Mrs. Brown. Mrs. Brown, I loved her to death. She was my biology teacher. And I had in my yearbook that I was going be a biology teacher. And I accomplished that goal. I became a biology teacher because of her. My second favorite was my French teacher, Mrs. Fauntleroy. I was in love with her also, loved her to death. I just loved to see her walk in and say, "Où sommes nous maintenant?" I'd say, "Ooh ooh, oui oui." My history teacher, his name was Harold Lawson. He lived up in McLean. When the only way you knew you were in McLean was that there was a great big tree on Route 7. He used to always say that history is "his story" and whoever tells the story and gets it in a book that's what people believe happened, and that may not be the truth. And he impressed upon us to always get at least three sources when wanted to prove something or know something. So that always stuck with me. And we were taught, we had a lot of good, young teachers, and they didn't always teach out of the book, because they would talk to us about what was going on in the world today. If you did not get an education at Luther Jackson, it was your fault, literally, because the teachers - if they had to rehearse you and tutor you individually, they took their extra time. When you came out of Luther Jackson, although it was a high school, you could have finished at least a second-year college with the education that you got out of Luther Jackson. It was wonderful. And I've gone back to school since, but I know my basis came from them and I will always give Luther Jackson the credit for my success and even my career because I wouldn't have chosen that. And I don't think the Library of Congress would have hired me if I didn't have the basis that I had coming in. We have to agree. Every single one of them was good and dear to our hearts.

Conclusion:
There's no question about that. Yeah. And one of the things were, the teachers were young. They were just fresh out of college, so we didn't realize they were that young, you know. We just recognized them as teachers and we - I was quite surprised to find out just how young they were. So many things I learned that children don't have an opportunity to learn in high school now. I don't think the attention and the intensity of learning is passed down the way it was in all-black schools by black teachers who wanted their race to succeed.

Yearbooks and Class Photographs
Nearly all of the photographs featured in the “Memories of Luther Jackson High School” video come from the Quentin Porter Collection of the Virginia Room, Fairfax County Public Library Photograph Collection. The Virginia Room holds a collection of more than 500 Fairfax County school yearbooks. All eleven volumes of the Luther Jackson High School “Tiger” have been digitized and can be viewed on the Virginia Room website. The Luther Jackson High School class photographs pictured below were provided by Brenda Duncan Marshall and Virginia Marshall.

The Closing of Luther Jackson High School
The racial desegregation of the public schools of Fairfax County was achieved by the closing of the all-African-American schools and the busing of the children to formerly all-white schools. Beginning in 1960, African-American students were slowly admitted to white schools through a pupil placement application process. During the 1964-65 school year, under continued legal pressure in Federal District Court, the School Board and FCPS Superintendent Funderburk drafted a plan to speed up the integration process. Due to the relatively small size of Luther Jackson High School, the School Board stated that it was “not feasible or practical” to enlarge the building to the 2,000-student capacity required for county high schools and was better suited for use as an intermediate school. For a brief period of time, the School Board considered renaming the building Carl Sandburg Intermediate School, but this never came to pass because the community wished to see the name Luther Jackson retained. Luther Jackson High School closed in June 1965. The building reopened the following September as Luther Jackson Intermediate School.

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Award-winning local historian and tour guide in Franconia and the greater Alexandria area of Virginia.

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Nathaniel Lee

c/o Franconia Museum

6121 Franconia Road

Alexandria, VA 22310

franconiahistory@gmail.com

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