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Former student: no bus service or potable taps for some Manassas Industrial School pupils
Summary
Lillian Sloan described being unable to board school buses that picked up white students on her lane, having parents drive her to school and relying on a nearby spring for drinking water while at school in the 1940s.
In the interview, Sloan said transportation routes in the 1940s did not serve students living in Linden and nearby areas, forcing some families to arrange private transport.
"My parents, transported me," Sloan said when asked how she reached Manassas for school. She added that the closest bus route was too far for her to use and that she lived in a dormitory because of limited local transit.
Spall recounted an earlier remark attributed to Sloan that white students on Sloan's lane were picked up by a bus while Sloan and her peers fetched drinking water from a nearby spring. Sloan confirmed the spring served as drinking water at school. The exchange underscores differences in daily conditions experienced by students at the school during that period.
The topic emerged as part of a broader oral-history effort tied to the Jenny Dean property; Spall said those recollections help the school board and community understand historical disparities in access to education and facilities.
