Out of the woods
Danville Register and Bee
Sunday, August 22, 2004
Several local blacks are reaching into the past to remember, restore and revere a chapter of history that should have never been forgotten. It’s part of a good trend, because black history belongs to everyone - and this community can’t move forward if it doesn’t understand where all of its residents have been.
An effort has begun to restore the one-room Harvey Colored School (later named Harvey Elementary School). The school, which educated blacks in the Callahan’s Hill and Bachelors Hall communities, has been purchased by Danville native and California resident Annie Wilson Mosby.
“It was the school that everyone in the neighborhood attended from 1880 to 1964,” Mosby said. “My mother and grandmother were also educated there. ... We can’t forget our heritage. After the deaths of my parents, I wanted to devote time to my dream, purchasing and restoring the old Harvey School.”
That effort led to the formation of the Harvey School Historical Society to raise the $32,000 needed to move and restore the building.
Not far from the old Harvey School, Danville’s Raymond Robertson worked for six months to restore the Mount Lebanon Church Cemetery. Robertson’s great-grandfather, Monroe Robertson, bought 10 acres on July 10, 1880, and donated land for the church, the cemetery and the school.
“My great-grandfather, who was born in 1835 and could only sign his name with an X, purchased property and put a church and school on it for the community,” Robertson said. “It makes me feel that with my educational background, I should be able to do a lot more. ... This has been the greatest experience of my life. This has strengthened us as a family. Not only do I get to meditate in the woods all day long, but my wife comes out to help me identify those buried in the cemetery.”
Old church cemeteries and abandoned one-room schoolhouses are small but important links in the history of every community. They deserve better than to be swallowed up by trees and vines and lost forever.
“Most African-American children are going backwards since the civil rights movement,” Mosby said. “The black youth are not connecting with their roots. They need to know where we came from. They need to know the struggle.”
While black history hasn’t been fully appreciated until fairly recently, people like Mosby, Robertson and the people who have worked alongside them are part of an important effort to restore and retain a part of the Dan River Region’s past.
Restoration efforts at the Harvey Colored School and Mount Lebanon Church Cemetery help this community understand where it has been.
