ZMM is proud to be a part of this project. The article below originally appeared in The Journal on July 28, 2024.

By Tom Markland

CHARLES TOWN – A recently finished hall in Jefferson County’s Board of Education building pays tribute to the county’s first Black school, 61 years after the school’s closing. A dedication ceremony on Saturday brought together school officials, alumni and members of the community to celebrate its opening.

The hall has been in the works for several years, and now that it’s completed, it stands as a living history museum dedicated to preserving the legacy of Page-Jackson High School and the impact it had on Jefferson County.

Saturday’s ceremony paid tribute to the school’s history, highlighting the teachers and the alumni’s memories with them.

“We honor them today for being standing stones we leaned on. We leaned on the strong backs and we climbed up to produce leaders in our community,” said Delores Foster, one of the school’s alumni. “They prayed over us, they protected us, they even disciplined us. We honor them today for being the bridge that we crossed over from darkness into light that we may see the way.”

During the ceremony, Foster shared some memories of the school, including playing her last Pomp-and-Circumstance during her now-brother-in-law’s graduation.

Opening in 1938 after Storer College discontinued its program, Page-Jackson High School was originally housed in Eagle Avenue Elementary, where an annex was added in 1942 for Black high schoolers. Also, in 1942, the Jefferson County Board of Education renamed the school Page-Jackson High School after Littleton L. Page and Philip Jackson, two Jefferson County educators. Their sports teams were called the Spartans, and their yearbook was called the Beacon.

In 1951, the school moved to a new location on Mordington Avenue two years before the Supreme Court ended segregation in schools. The school closed 11 years later.

“This room today has said exactly what we want it to say,” Foster said. “It speaks. You can hear the history in this room.”

The room is now covered in artifacts from the school, in addition to old photos and informational text, telling the stories of the school and people who taught, attended and administrated inside. Now that it’s completed, students with Jefferson County Schools will have the opportunity to visit the room and learn more about the county’s history.

“We have a plan that there will be students who will rotate through this room as part of their learning experience,” said Joyce White, deputy superintendent of operations at Jefferson County Schools. “We have to be sure that the legacy of those who have come before us never dies.”

The room is located inside the Jefferson County Board of Education headquarters at 110 Mordington Avenue, down the left hallway.