Lucy Addison High School was an all-

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

high school founded in 1928 during

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, " Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the ...

racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It lies in Southwest Virginia, along the Roanoke River, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Ridge range of the greater Appalachian Mountains. Roanok ...

. Named after Lucy Addison, a pioneering African American educator and first principal of the segregated Harrison School, Lucy Addison High School became Roanoke's second all-African American secondary educational institution. During its history, the school operated in two separate buildings: at Roanoke's Douglas and Hart Avenues between 1928 and 1952; and at Roanoke's Fifth Street and Orange Avenue between 1953 and 1970. As a result of Roanoke's desegregation of its high schools in 1963, Addison eventually became an integrated high school in 1970. Though the City of Roanoke closed Addison's doors as a high school in 1973, Addison was converted into Lucy Addison Junior High School. The building now operates as Lucy Addison Junior High School within the Roanoke City Public School System.

History

Lucy Addison (December 8, 1861 – November 13, 1937), a pioneering

educator who served as the principal of

's now-defunct Harrison School, created a high school curriculum in 1924 to expand beyond Harrison's 8th grade program. After receiving high school accreditation from Virginia's Board of Education, the Harrison School graduated three students in its inaugural 1924 high school class. Addison served as Harrison School's principal from 1917 until her retirement in 1927. In 1928, the City of Roanoke renamed the school after Lucy Addison. Lucy Addison High School's first structure was built at the corner of Roanoke's Douglas and Hart Avenues, operating at this location from 1928 to 1952. Addison attended the official grand opening of Lucy Addison High School, April 19, 1929. The school graduated its first class in 1929 during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. Lucy Addison High School's second structure was built in 1951 at the corner of Roanoke's Fifth Street and Orange Avenue in the heart of the African-American community. Opening its doors for the 1952-1953 school year, the school graduated its first class in 1953. As a result of desegregation in the southern United States, the school closed in 1973. Addison graduated its final high school class in 1973. In 2015, the Lucy Addison High School Alumni Association unveiled a three-piece monument erected in honor of the school's founder, faculty and alumni.

Administration

Lucy Addison High School had seven principals at school's Douglas and Hart Avenue location: * 1928-1934 - T. R. Parker * 1935-1939 - Arnett G. Macklin * 1939-1945 - Samuel Fischer Scott * 1945-1946 - Sadie V. Lawson * 1946-1948 - Henry Carpenter * 1948-1949 - Lewis A. Sydnor Sr. Principal at Roanoke's Booker T. Washington Junior High School in the 1960s. * 1949-1952 - Sadie V. Lawson Three principals at its Fifth Street and Orange Avenue location: * 1952-1968 - Edwin L Phillips * 1968-1970 - Julian A. Moore * 1970-1973 - Charles W. Day

Notable alumni

* Captain Ralph Claytor - Member of the

Tuskegee Airmen The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Fighter Group, 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of th ...

. Basketball and football standout at Addison High School before attending

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

* Lawrence Hamlar - prominent African-American civic leader, businessman, and philanthropist. Founder of Roanoke's historic African American-owned Hamlar Curtis Funeral Home. * Oliver Hill - Prominent African American civil rights attorney whose work against

racial discrimination Racial discrimination is any discrimination against any individual on the basis of their Race (human categorization), race, ancestry, ethnicity, ethnic or national origin, and/or Human skin color, skin color and Hair, hair texture. Individuals ...

helped end the doctrine of "

separate but equal Separate but equal was a legal doctrine in United States constitutional law, according to which racial segregation did not necessarily violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which nominally guaranteed "equal protectio ...

.". Attended the Harrison School during his family's relocation from Richmond, Virginia to Roanoke, Virginia in early childhood and young adult years.Roanoke Valley Family Magazine. Blue Ridge, Two Kids: Tales of a Roanoke Dad. "ILLUSTRIOUS ROANOKERS, PART 4." Tim Carr. December 8, 2020. https://roanoke.family/illustrious-roanokers-part-4/ *

Don Pullen Don Gabriel Pullen (December 25, 1941 – April 22, 1995) was an American jazz pianist and organist. Pullen developed a strikingly individual style throughout his career. He composed pieces ranging from blues to bebop and modern jazz. The great ...

, American jazz pianist and organist

References

{{coord, 37.2842, -79.9475, type:edu_region:US-VA, display=title Schools in Roanoke, Virginia African-American history of Virginia Educational institutions established in 1928 School buildings completed in 1928

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

1928 establishments in Virginia