By: Theresa Martin
Community members, museum professionals and educators gathered at A.T. Johnson Museum (ATJM) on January 31st to listen to a lecture given by the renowned educator Dr. Lois Harrison Jones-Fears. Dr. Harrison Jones Fears spoke on the history of A.T. Johnson as a school, as well as her life experience at A.T. Johnson High School and how it informed her future. Dr. Harrison Jones Fears is a 1950 graduate of A.T. Johnson High School. She went on to study at Virginia State University, as well as Temple University, the University of Virginia and received her doctorate in Educational Administration from VA Tech. Dr. Harrison Jones-Fears made history when she became Virginia’s first woman, first African American, and first African American woman Superintendent (Richmond Public Schools). She went on to accomplish the same accolades for Massachusetts when she became the Superintendent of Schools for the city of Boston.
Following the lecture held in the auditorium, guests toured ATJM’s exhibit spaces. One exhibit space is set like a 1937 open classroom. Open classrooms housed multiple lessons taught by different teachers in one room. On three separate walls hang three large blackboards; ten or so student desks face each board. As you move through the room one can imagine being in there in 1937 when algebra would’ve been taught on one board, English on another, and biology on the last. Display cases decorate the corridors and auditorium of an architecturally sound original building. The building itself is a case study of authentic architecture and the longevity of using quality local materials built by local experienced tradesmen and student apprentices.
A.T. Johnson’s original building, where the museum is now, was a Rosenwald School in design although it wasn’t a Rosenwald-funded school. Rosenwald Schools were a turn-of-the-century, early 1900s, nationwide program created by Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald to support African American communities with resources to design and fund premier schools for their students. Rosenwald plans were designed by Robert Robinson Taylor, the first black graduate of MIT and accredited architect in 1892. Some impressive original features included the beautifully maintained hardwood floors, illuminating fenestration, and the pale pink tiles in the bathrooms. The other primary exhibit room displays artifacts from school days such as a letterman's jacket, school supplies, and photos of sharp-looking student organizational bodies. Many of tonight’s guests were former A.T. Johson students, teachers and administrators and loved seeing treasures from their school days, calling the evening a “homecoming.”
Marian Veney Ashton, class for 1968, and Executive Director of ATJM introduced Dr. Harrison Jones-Fears and mingled with guests after the lecture. Rosemary Mahan, a graduate of A.T. Johnson Junior High School (the school became an integrated Junior High in 1970) and Executive Director of Westmoreland County Museum (WCM), welcomed visitors to the function and shared sneak peeks into future events and lectures hosted by the two museums. Lit refreshments were provided by A.T. Johnson’s Board of Directors and dinner was sold by the popular Montross food truck, Preacher Dave’s BBQ.
This lecture night was put on by Westmoreland County Museum and A.T. Johnson Museum, as the first lecture of a yearlong partnership between the museums in putting on the series: Introduction to Westmoreland County History. The next lecture will take place in ___________. Prior to that the museums will host a Black History Month Bingo Night on Thursday February 27th. More details to follow plus where to buy event tickets are on our website www.westmorelandcountymuseum.org .