By: Cianna Morales Relocated and rebuilt, the Cornland School — a one-room schoolhouse that served Black children in Chesapeake before de-segregation — is continuing its mission to educate the community. Th e school, built in 1902, was slowly falling down at its original location on Benefit Road. Water was rising and plants and wildlife were encroaching on the old building when community members and city officials started raising money to save it 14 years ago. In 2021, the school was moved 6.2 miles to Glencoe Street, and a ribbon cutting last week welcomed alumnae and local residents to the newly restored building, now a museum. “I can’t describe it,” said Mildred Brown, an alumna, at the event. “The last time I saw it, it was in crumbles.” Brown, a lifelong Chesapeake resident, attended the school when she was 6 years old. She will turn 94 next month. She and three other women, all in their 80s and 90s, toured the restored building then circled a Maypole — a tradition that has traveled from one continent to another, and has deep roots in African American history. Emma Nixon, 88, and Pauline Sykes Smith, 89, walked with colorful ribbons wrapped around their hands. They both attended Cornland. Wanza Snead completed the group. Her husband went to the school too. The building was located on the Sneads’ property, and it was Snead who approached Chesapeake council-member Ella P. Ward in 2010 about preserving it. The group of women represent the last surviving classes of the school. It closed its doors around 1953, according to the Cornland School Foundation, a group dedicated to its preservation. Brown v. Board of Education, the supreme court ruling to desegregate schools, was decided in 1954. Before that, Cornland had been operating since Reconstruction. Some historical records indicate it started in 1885. It was founded by formerly enslaved people, and is one of the region’s earliest Reconstruction-era efforts at formalized education for African American students. In 1902, an old school building was sold for $18. Another structure — the current Cornland School — was built for $314.50. Raising money […]
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