Fuqua School

For the Duke University Business school, see Fuqua School of Business.
Fuqua School

Scientia volamus
Address
605 Fuqua Drive
Farmville, VA 23901
United States
Coordinates 37°17′37.9″N 78°23′9.3″W / 37.293861°N 78.385917°W / 37.293861; -78.385917Coordinates: 37°17′37.9″N 78°23′9.3″W / 37.293861°N 78.385917°W / 37.293861; -78.385917
Information
Type Private
Established 1959
Head of school John Melton
Grades Pre-K to 12th
Enrollment 383[1] (2013–2014 school year)
Color(s) Red and Gold/Black and Yellow
Mascot Falcons
Yearbook The Peregrine
Endowment $6.0 million+
Information 434-392-4131
Website http://www.fuquaschool.com

Fuqua School is a private primary and secondary school located in Farmville, Virginia. It was founded in 1959 as a segregation academy, "Prince Edward Academy," and renamed after J.B. Fuqua, who made a large contribution to the school in 1993.[2]

History

After the United States Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that public education must be racially integrated, the Prince Edward County school board closed all of its schools.[3] Fuqua School was subsequently founded in 1959 as "Prince Edward Academy" in response to pending integration, part of a strategy known as massive resistance.[4] Over the next few years essentially all of the white children in the district were attending the Academy.[3]

The public school system in Prince Edward County remained closed between 1959 and 1964. The United States Supreme Court decision Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County with a vote of 9–0 outlawed the allocation of public funds through tuition grants to fund race-discriminating institutions. When public schools were reopened in 1964 and integrated, Prince Edward Academy stood as an option for families who did not want to participate in integration, thus continuing racial tension among citizens. Because Prince Edward Academy did not accept non-white students, it lost its tax-exempt status in 1978 and began to suffer financially. It was not until the late 1980s that it ended its policy of discrimination and admitted students of other races.[5] Its association with "old money" and discrimination in the past still causes some tension in the Farmville community, especially among non-whites and students of the local public schools.[5]

By the early 1990s, with aging technology, a very small alumni contribution base, and an increasing debt, Prince Edward Academy was nearing financial collapse. In 1992, former local resident and businessman J.B. Fuqua donated about 10 million dollars to pay off debts and install necessary improvements to the school, such as air conditioning and computers. The school was transformed at that point with a new administration, a new mascot and school colors, in addition to the school's changed name.[2] J.B. Fuqua's support for and interest in the private school did not end with his initial contribution; until his death in 2006, Fuqua donated thousands of dollars to the school each year and regularly visited the school and its students.

In 2008, in order to improve its reputation in Farmville, Fuqua offered African-American high school football player Charles Williams a full scholarship to the school if he would agree to promote it in the town's black community.[6] As of December 2011, fifteen of Fuqua’s 420 students were black.[6] Fuqua's administration and students have also been actively involved with recent community efforts to commemorate the 1951 R.R. Moton High School student walkout, a major event in the struggle to end public and private segregation in the U.S.[7]

Accreditation

The school is fully accredited by the Virginia Association of Independent Schools,[8] and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools,[9]

See also

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ "School Detail for Fuqua School". NCES. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Big bucks bringing new name to facility". Rome News-Tribune. 24 August 1993. Retrieved 21 October 2015 – via Google News Archive.
  3. 1 2 Wilbur B. Brookover (Spring 1993). "Education in Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1953–1993". The Journal of Negro Education. 62 (2): 149–161. doi:10.2307/2295190. JSTOR 2295190.
  4. ↑ Kevin Sieff (December 14, 2011). "Star Recruit's Job: Erode a Racist Legacy". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
  5. 1 2 Robert E. Pierre (December 16, 2011). "Is the Fuqua School's racist past still present?". Washington Post. p. B02.
  6. 1 2 Fuqua School looks to African American football star to shatter racist legacy (Washington Post, December 11, 2011)
  7. ↑ Joining Hands with History: PECHS, Fuqua Students Walk and Stand Together (Farmville Herald, April 24, 2014)
  8. ↑ Virginia Association of Independent Schools
  9. ↑ AdvancED – Institution Summary

External links

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