Inside a two-story building near downtown Christiansburg, a hundred years’ worth of history is archived. This isn’t the original site of the Christiansburg Institute; most of those buildings have fallen into disrepair or were converted into other uses. But for now, it’s the home where the history lives, including a small museum.
“Where we are right now is a representation of power,” said Chris Sanchez, executive director of Christiansburg Institute Inc. the non-profit working to bring the history of this school to light.
“Because all of these stories and memories communicate the nuanced history of the Christiansburg Institute, which was the first high school in southwest Virginia to educate the formally enslaved,” Sanchez said.
The first students began lessons here in 1867. It was one of many schools across the south that were briefly funded by the federal government through the Freedman’s Bureau.
Before it was a school, the property had been a plantation, Sanchez said. “You’ve got formally enslaved men learning in former slave quarters.”
New dorms were eventually built for students to live in. A philanthropic Quaker group, the Friends’ Freedmen's Association, helped grow the school into a 185-acre teaching facility.
At one point it had at least 15 buildings, and was one of the only centers of higher education for Black men and women in southwest Virginia, and taught students from surrounding counties.
It eventually became a public high school, and it remained a vibrant educational center during Jim Crow and segregation.
The museum has a photo from the 1950s, showing the school’s marching band, which was celebrated, along with the school’s football team. At the same time, students faced discrimination in their community.
“So, we can be honest about that, and acknowledge it,” Sanchez said. “And also say, it was incredible and the band was celebrated, and people came out to see it.”
The Christiansburg Institute closed in 1966. In the 1980s, alumni formed a small museum on the original campus, and began preserving photographs and artifacts from the school’s history. But much of their collection wasn’t easy to access until recently, said Jenny Nehrt, who’s currently the curator at the new museum.
“It was hidden and inaccessible to both the alumni and the wider public,” Nehrt said. “And when you can’t access these historic resources, you can’t tell the story and you can’t learn.”
For years, said Nehrt, the group also struggled to access enough funding.
“The historical record of African-American led non-profits like ours, it’s bleak,” Nehrt said. “In terms of accessing resources from grantors and local governments and other donors and other resources.”
But now, thanks to a grant of more than two hundred and fifty dollars from the Council on Library Information Resources, their material is being digitized, so anyone can view it from their own home. They were able to hire two new staff members to help with the digitization project.
Christiansburg Institute partnered with Virginia Tech libraries on the grant. A new exhibit showcasing parts of the collection is on display at Virginia Tech’s Newman Library until December.
The Christiansburg Institute museum’s exhibits and library are also open to the public Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 10-4, and by appointment other days.
Eventually, they’re hoping to restore the Edgar A. Long Building, which at one time was one of the buildings on the Christiansburg Institute Campus, and turn it into a museum.
