Virginia delegate recalls community-built school, warns against erasing Black history

RICHMOND, Va. — Delegate Fagans used a point of personal privilege on the House floor Feb. 3 to mark the start of Black History Month by recounting the history of the Princess Anne County Training School and urging lawmakers to preserve historical memory and resist efforts to erase Black history.

Fagans told colleagues that the school — later called Union Kemptsville High School — was built by local Black residents after they were denied a high-school education beyond the seventh grade. He said community leaders raised funds in 1925 at a mass meeting at Mount Olive Baptist Church, established a temporary school in 1934 at Union Baptist Church and completed a four-room high school in 1938 that expanded over the next decades. He said the school graduated its final class in 1969 as integration brought its closure.

“Black history is American history,” Fagans told the chamber. “When our history is told thoroughly with all its beauty, all its blemishes, when every child in the commonwealth learns the names of those who fought for justice, when we no longer need to fear the truth of our history, then and only then may we not need Black History Month. But that day is not today.”

Fagans framed the remarks within contemporary controversies, saying he had received an official Department of Defense distribution announcing a change in how the department treats identity months. He called recent efforts elsewhere to remove or whitewash Black history from curricula and to ban books that address racial injustice “a warning for our future” and said telling the full history remains necessary.

Nut graf: Fagans used historical detail to make a broader plea for vigilance in preserving educational and cultural memory, arguing that community self‑help efforts that built schools during segregation should be honored and that official attempts to erase or downplay Black history merit legislative attention.

The remarks were delivered during the House’s morning hours reserved for points of personal privilege. They were not followed by a formal motion or vote, but they drew attention amid a session that also included extensive legislative activity on the calendar. Fagans concluded by urging that the commonwealth continue to teach Black history in February and year‑round.