Criser High School was an African American school accommodating grades 1–12 constructed in 1959 in the town of

Front Royal, Virginia Front Royal is the only incorporated town in Warren County, Virginia, United States. The population was 15,011 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Warren County. History The entire Shenandoah Valley including the area to become F ...

. Its opening occurred the same year 22 African American students integrated the all-white Warren County High School, which drew national media attention.

History

After the Stanley Plan, the legislative package implementing the

massive resistance Massive resistance was a strategy declared by U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd Sr. of Virginia and his brother-in-law James M. Thomson, who represented Alexandria in the Virginia General Assembly, to get the state's white politicians to pass laws and p ...

policies of Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr., was found to be unconstitutional by federal courts, Criser High School was built to prevent total integration of Warren County High School. Its principal was James W. McClendon from Farmville, Va. McClendon previously taught agriculture at the R. R. Moton School in Prince Edward County, Va. The Prince Edward County, Board of Supervisors, refusing to integrate their school system voted not to appropriate any funds for the operation of all their schools. McClendon seeking employment elsewhere became aware of a new all-black High School being built in Warren County Virginia. He applied and was hired as its first and only principal. His wife Eunice was also hired as one of the school's elementary instructors. Prior to the construction of Criser High School only grades 1 through 7 were available to black students of Warren County. Students that wanted to receive a high school education could attend

Manassas Regional High School Manassas Regional High School was a segregated public school for black students that existed from 1938 until 1966 in Manassas, Virginia. It served black students from Prince William, Warren, Fauquier, and Fairfax counties. The school was the su ...

(Jennie Dean), located away from Front Royal. The students would leaving Sunday and returning Friday on transportation provided by the County. After repeated requests from concerned parents regarding the distance and time spent from home by these young black students attending Manassas Regional, black students were allowed to attend Johnson-Williams High School in Berryville, away. This arrangement allowed these students to return home the same day but much later than white students living in the county.

Legacy

When the construction of Criser High School was completed, the school became the educational darling of the African American community. With a campus overlooking Southtown, Criser High School provided education for African American students from the surrounding communities of Bentonville, Limeton, Guard Hill, Milldale, Bayard, Reliance, Riverton, Rockland and Happy Creek. With an initial student population of over 300, African American instructors from various

historically black colleges Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

were recruited to make up its corp of teachers. Some of the initial high school instructors came from the Prince Edward County school system. Criser reached its zenith in the early 1960s and it was these formative years of the band that music instructor Geraldine Jackson established the foundation of its music legacy. Appearing on Ted Mack's nationally known

The Original Amateur Hour ''The Original Amateur Hour'' is an American radio and television program. The show was a continuation of ''Major Bowes Amateur Hour'' which had been a radio staple from 1934 to 1945. Major Edward Bowes, the originator of the program and its mas ...

, she showed her proficiency playing the baritone horn. Later, it was under the direction of music instructor John Easley, from

Langston University Langston University (LU) is a public land-grant historically black university in Langston, Oklahoma. It is the only historically black college in the state. Though located in a rural setting east of Guthrie, Langston also serves an urban missio ...

, that the Black and Gold Lancers truly excelled and became marching band favorites of the Annual Apple Blossom Festival, Front Royal Christmas Parade, and the Hagerstown Halloween Parade. Frank Threatts of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

inaugurated and coached the school's sports program. In 1962, McKinley Armstrong significantly expanded the program and took it to new heights that included

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

along with

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

competition. Criser competed with other historically black Virginia high schools in a local district that included Frederick Douglass of

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

, Johnson-Williams of Berryville, West Luray of Luray, and Lucy Simms of Harrisonburg. Beyond their district, their competition included Page-Jackson High School of Charles Town, Douglass High School of Leesburg, Frederick Douglass of Leesburg, William C. Taylor of Warrenton, George Washington Carver of Culpeper, Luther P. Jackson of Merrifield, Hoffman-Boston of Arlington, Booker T. Washington of Staunton, Central Augusta of Staunton, and Jennie Dean of Manassas. All of these schools have a rich history of community activism which brought about the creation of these historic African American institutions in the late 1940s and 1950s. The consolidation of both Warren County and Rappahannock County school systems introduced African American students from

Huntly Huntly ( gd, Srath Bhalgaidh or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settlemen ...

, Flint Hill,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, and Sperryville to its school population, but the overall student enrollment continued to decline. The school closed its doors in 1966 due to further declining enrolment as a major exodus of students opted to attend Warren County High School in search of a purported better education, and to fulfil a driving need to satisfy the wishes of Front Royal's integrationist constituency.{{Citation needed, date=December 2018

External links

Ressie Jeffries Elementary School's history page
1959 establishments in Virginia 1966 disestablishments in Virginia Defunct schools in Virginia Educational institutions established in 1959 Educational institutions disestablished in 1966 Historically segregated African-American schools in Virginia Schools in Warren County, Virginia