Armstrong High School, part of the

Richmond Public Schools Richmond Public Schools is a public school district located in the independent city of Richmond, Virginia. It is occasionally described locally as Richmond City Public Schools to emphasize its connection to the independent city rather than the ...

, is a

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

located in

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, ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

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, with grades 9–12. The school was founded in 1867 as the Richmond Normal and High School by the

Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was an agency of early Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South. It was established on March 3, 1865, and operated briefly as a ...

and was eventually incorporated into the Richmond school system in 1876. The school's

namesake A namesake is a person, geographic location, or other entity bearing the name of another. History The word is first attested around 1635, and probably comes from the phrase "for one's name's sake", which originates in English Bible translations ...

is former Union General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, a white commander of a

U.S. Colored Troops The United States Colored Troops (USCT) were regiments in the United States Army composed primarily of African-American (colored) soldiers, although members of other minority groups also served within the units. They were first recruited during ...

(USCT) regiment during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. General Armstrong later founded Hampton Institute, a

historically black college 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 ...

now known as Hampton University in

Hampton, Virginia Hampton () is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 137,148. It is the List ...

. Armstrong's was a mentor of

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...

History

The Richmond Normal and High School was conceived by Ralza M. Manly and opened in October 1867. It initially drew funding from a variety of sources, including the

, American Freedmen's Union Commission, and local African-Americans. The Richmond Educational Association took over the school's operation when the Freedmen's Bureau ceased operations in the state in 1870. By the following year it had been renamed Richmond Colored Normal School and moved buildings. The city of Richmond took over the school in 1876. Around the 1880s the school was renamed the Richmond Colored High and Normal School and in 1909 it adopted its current name of Armstrong High School. The location of Armstrong High school has changed three times since 1909. Once in 1923, then in 1951, and then again in 2004. It is now in its fourth location. In 1909, the school was established at Leigh Streets at first and named in honor of Union General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, founder of

Hampton University Hampton University is a private, historically black, research university in Hampton, Virginia. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, it was established by Black and White leaders of the American Missionary Association af ...

. The school then moved to a larger facility in 1923 at the corner of Prentis and Leigh Streets (now the Adult Career Development Center), and then to a new location, 1611 North 31st Street, in 1951. In 2004, Armstrong High school merged with the nearby John F. Kennedy High School, continuing to use the Armstrong name, colors and mascot, except that it was now much newer and revamped with its air conditioned Kennedy building. At the current location, Armstrong High School is one of only two of Richmond's public schools which are physically located slightly outside the corporate limits of the independent city in the

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

. The Kennedy High School complex and Fairfield Court Elementary School were built in the 1960s on land in a small portion of Henrico County adjacent to Interstate 64 which was cut off from the rest of the county when the

Interstate highway The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...

was built. The school's public address announcer and former faculty member,

Rodney Robinson Rodney Alexander Robinson (born September 9, 1978) is an American educator. After teaching for over a decade in middle and high schools in Richmond, Virginia, he became a social studies and history teacher for grades 6 through 12 at the Virgie ...

, was named the 2019

National Teacher of the Year The National Teacher of the Year is a professional award in the United States. The program began in 1952, as a project by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), and aims to reward excellence in teaching. It is sponsored by ING. Se ...

Neighborhoods served

The community served five

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

facilities in proximity to one another; one, Fairfield Court, is on the other side of the street from the high school. - page cited: 398.

Operations

Circa 2015 the school used metal detectors and had six security guards. April Hawkins, the principal, stated her belief that the school should have more guards. - page cited: 399.

Demographics

Circa 2015 there were 974 students and approximately 97% were African American.

Student performance

Circa 2015, of the entire student body, the number with plans to attend a four-year college or university was fewer than thirty.

Alumni

* Jean L. Harris, First African-American to be admitted to medical school in Virginia, former Mayor of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, first African-American cabinet member in Virginia - Secretary of Human Resources * Virginia Estelle Randolph, internationally recognized

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

with Henrico County Public Schools *

William Ferguson Reid William Ferguson "Fergie" Reid (born March 18, 1925) is a Virginia physician, politician and civil rights activist. In 1968, Reid became the first African-American elected to the Virginia Assembly since the days of Reconstruction. He won re-e ...

, Richmond physician (surgeon), civil rights activist, and member of the Virginia General Assembly. *

Douglas Wilder Lawrence Douglas Wilder (born January 17, 1931) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 66th Governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1994. He was the first African American to serve as governor of a U.S. state since the Reconstruction ...

, the first African American governor of Virginia. *

Elizabeth Coles Bouey Elizabeth Coles Bouey (November 14, 1891 – February 5, 1957) was a Liberian-born American missionary and church worker. She founded the National Association of Ministers' Wives in 1939. Early life Elizabeth A. Coles was born in Liberia, the d ...

, missionary

References

External links

Official website
* {{authority control High schools in Richmond, Virginia Educational institutions established in 1865 Public high schools in Virginia Historically segregated African-American schools in Virginia 1865 establishments in Virginia Schools supported by the Freedmen's Bureau