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1/ In 1917, George F. Johnson was 6 years out of @HowardU's medical school. Three years earlier he married Peachie Suporah Carr, who recently graduated from the Virginia Normal & Industrial Institute ( @VSU_1882).
Together they lived in the heart of Vinegar Hill at 123 4th St NW.
Together they lived in the heart of Vinegar Hill at 123 4th St NW.
2/ There, Dr. Johnson saw patients as one of Charlottesville’s well-known Black doctors.
And Mrs. Johnson walked across the street to the Jefferson School, where she taught generations of African American children, until she retired in 1958.
And Mrs. Johnson walked across the street to the Jefferson School, where she taught generations of African American children, until she retired in 1958.
3/ In 1917, however, the Johnsons eyed a property just one block west, at 204 5th Street NW. They decided to invest, paying $600 to keep yet another neighborhood lot in Black ownership.
4/ By 1917, that block of 5th St NW—today known as Starr Hill—had nearly 3 decades of Black ownership, amidst a vast surrounding residential landscape that white residents were increasingly restricting through private Jim Crow covenants, preventing Black residents from moving in.
5/ These private agreements not only restricted the affordable housing options for Black renters, but also prevented Black residents from buying more property throughout the city and building wealth.
6/ At the neighborhood’s core was the Jefferson School. Funded by the Freedman’s Bureau in 1865 as a graded school at the Delevan Hotel, it soon had 200+ students & four teachers.
By 1895, it moved to a new & larger building on the corner of Commerce & 4th St NW.
By 1895, it moved to a new & larger building on the corner of Commerce & 4th St NW.
7/ Meanwhile, in 1894, just two blocks away, the city’s all-white segregated graded school expanded to include a 4-year high school in the large 3-story Midway building.
8/ Since 1892, Black residents had advocated for a 4-year high school, citing an ever-increasing student body & the unparalleled economic mobilization that a higher education secured.
9/ By the early 20th Century, the Jefferson School only went to 8th grade. Classrooms were overcrowded, teachers underpaid, and there was no indoor plumbing. The city’s white school superintendent suggested adding on to the existing building & expanding it to a 2-yr high school.
10/ But after years of strategic organizing by Black residents, including a petition and the realization that the graded school could not be appropriately renovated, the all-white School Board, in 1922, approved a new Jefferson School.
It would, however, come at a cost.
It would, however, come at a cost.
11/ In 1923, a large bond was issued to expand the all-white Venable Elementary School and the Jefferson School. To do the latter, the city determined it must take a series of five properties along 5th St NW, all of which were Black-owned.
12/ In 1924, the city convened an all-white commission “to ascertain what will be a just compensation for the lot of land proposed to be taken by the School Board of the City of Charlottesville and award damages if any.”
13/ The government’s legal ability to seize property through what’s commonly called “eminent domain” has its roots in the Fifth Amendment, which states in-part: “…nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
14/ The government has repeatedly invoked this right to seize private property for “public use,” even when that “public use” was segregated to white’s only. This occurred for the construction of the all-white Lane High School, & was the basis for razing Vinegar Hill & Garrett St.
15/ What is not often discussed within the conversation around eminent domain, however, is the razing of Black-owned property for Black use, such as with Cox’s Row to build Westhaven and this instance of 5th Street NW.
16/ The southernmost property on this block, 200 5th St NW, on the corner of Commerce St. was bought in 1895 by Mary T. Scott from Thomas Rives for $185.
Scott is the great-granddaughter of Mary Hemings, who Thomas Jefferson enslaved at Monticello.
Scott is the great-granddaughter of Mary Hemings, who Thomas Jefferson enslaved at Monticello.
17/ Scott is also the daughter of Robert Scott, Sr., a member of the prominent Scott family of musicians who lived on Main Street throughout the 19th Century. Mary T. Scott’s step-niece was Nannie Cox Jackson, a career educator and longtime teacher at the Jefferson School.
18/ In 1895, Anderson Johnson secured a $200 bond to purchase the property that became 206 5th St NW. Two years later, Anderson defaulted on the bond & the property went to auction, where another African American, Eliza Kenney, was the highest bidder, purchasing it for $185.
19/ For more, check out the the full article — all of which is made possible through @SavingPlaces generous support of @JSAAHC https://mappingcville.com/2021/01/19/black-land-black-schools-eminent-domain/
