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The story of Barbara Rose Johns is the one many people know. They’ve also heard about Moton High, and the Lost Generation who were kept from school in Prince Edward County, after supervisors shut down the buildings in response to the end of segregation. But what happened to those students from 1959 to 1964, while Prince Edward schools remained closed? For some, a temporary solution existed next door in Cumberland County, where officials had an addition built at Luther P Jackson School. That’s something Cumberland supervisors and staff want to highlight, as work continues to renovate and revive the school. 

Back on Tuesday, Nov. 12, Cumberland supervisors agreed to move forward and create the Luther P Jackson School Committee. Before we detail what’s been happening with the committee, let’s first explain what the assignment is. The goal will be for the committee to help drive renovation ideas, come up with ways to use the building and to help tell the story of the school, why it was created and the part it played in Virginia history. Cumberland supervisors back in November said the committee will help direct historical interpretation, such as tours and programs, sharing details about the school from its beginning in 1952. Maybe that comes in the way of visual aids that people can read as they walk through the building. Maybe it’s through oral histories, shared through tours. 

But before you can move forward with any of those things, you need committee members. In November 2024, Cumberland officially put out the call, requesting people to apply to be part of the committee. Between then and March 2025, seven applications came in. 

Forming the committee

This committee would operate just like the New Business Task Force, under the leadership of the county’s Economic Development Authority. That’s because the Luther P Jackson school building is actually owned by the EDA, Cumberland Administrator Derek Stamey told members at the EDA’s March 18 meeting. 

Putting the Luther P. Jackson committee under the EDA also would “allow the committee to be eligible for a wider variety of grants. You wouldn’t just be going after historical grants,” Stamey explained. 

The plan currently is to give those seven applications to EDA members for review, then have the group vote to pick five of those seven people to serve. Also on the committee will be county staff members, including Stamey, Assistant County Administrator Jennifer Crews, Superintendent of Community Operations Bryan Saxtan and Recreation Director Samantha Pankey. It also includes two members of the Board of Supervisors, current Chairperson Eurika Tyree and District 4 representative Paul Stimpson. Tyree previously attended Luther P. Jackson and the building is in her district, so in that November meeting, she expressed this was a passion project. 

Goals for moving forward 

So what happens once the committee is formed? There are a few things, some of which are already in progress. First, county staff, namely Mr. Saxtan and his staff, are working to develop a meeting space in an existing classroom in the building. The plan would be to hold committee meetings there and possibly some EDA meetings as well. 

Second, the committee will be working to identify historically significant artifacts to preserve and set up to display, such as photos and yearbooks, among other items. Third, the idea is to come up with ways the auditorium in the building can be used, possibly for community events and different activities. 

“I think the main thing is for the community to see something tangible happening from an economic development standpoint there,” Stamey told the EDA. “This is another step in the right direction.” 

Who was Luther P Jackson? 

But what about the school’s namesake? Who was Luther P Jackson? He is considered one of Virginia’s first civil rights activists of the 1930s and 1940s. Serving as a professor of history at Virginia State College in Petersburg for almost 30 years, Jackson was focused on research.

He authored Free Negro Labor and Property Holding in Virginia, 1830–1860, a 1942 research paper that challenged stereotypes of antebellum black residents. Three years later, he followed that up with Negro Office Holders in Virginia, 1865-1895. The purpose in these and several other of his more than 60 books and articles, Jackson said, was to show African Americans as productive citizens throughout history, proving they owned businesses and houses, as well as ran for and got elected to political office, all long before 1900. 

He also helped found the Petersburg League of Negro Voters in 1935 and wrote a weekly newspaper column titled “Rights and Duties in a Democracy”. Jackson is also known for challenging Richmond’s segregated public transit system. He would go on to fight for civil rights up until his death in 1950. The school bearing his name went up in Cumberland in 1952 and after integration, it was converted into an elementary school, which ultimately shut down.