The Brown School

The Brown School. , The earliest story on record of educating local Black students began ca. 1869, when the Manassas Village Colored School opened on the corner of Liberty and Prince William Streets. This two-room frame stucture was a private school, offering classes in the primary grades. Not long after opening, the entire building was moved to a lot on Liberty Street. Funding came in part from the local community as well as The Friends Association for the Aid and Elevation of the Freedmen, a Quaker institution in Philadelphia., In 1872, the name of the school was changed to Brown in honor of Mary Brown, a member of the Society of Friends (Quakers). The newly named institution also became a public grade school, the second one in Manassas and the first for Black students. The Brown School was in operation on Liberty Street until 1928, when a new school with the same name opened in the vicinity of 9415 Prince William Street. The second Brown School, also segregated, remained in operation until 1954. Today, the building that housed the original Brown School still stands on Liberty Street as a private residence., [Sidebar:] , In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled segregating schools by race was unconstitutional. Towns were required to integrate "with all deliberate speed." Black children from neighboring countries, who had been attending Manassas Regional School for their second education, began taking classes in their own jurisdictions. Prince William County, now operating schools with fewer students, decided to consolidate. The Brown School closed and students began attending classes in budiling on the campus of the Manassas Regional School, the former Manassas Industrial School. Finally, in 1960, Black students got a new facility on that campus, naming it Jennie Dean High School. Prince William County schools did not integrate until 1965. The Jennie Dean school still stands, but is now an elementary school., [Captions:] , This passage from the minutes of an 1872 meeting of the board of the Manassas School District shows that funds were spent on schools for white children before any attention was given to those for Black students, often resulting in little to no money being available for Black schools. , , Manassas Museum Collection, Manassas Regional High School graduating class of 1956. , , Manassas Museum Collection, Julius Rosenwald was a philanthropist who provided funds to build over 5,000 state-of-the-art schools for Black children across the rural South. The second Brown School in Manassas was a Rosenwald School. , , Courtesy of the Library of Congress, The Brown School, ca. 1950. When it was built, this was the only grade school for Black students in Manassas. Today, this bilding is a private residence. , , Manassas Music Collection