Fort Valley High and Industrial School (1890 – 1939), also known as Fort Valley Normal and Industrial School, was a private elementary, secondary and normal school for African American students in Fort Valley, Georgia, affiliated with the American Church Institute of the Protestant Episcopal Church. It was a Rosenwald school.
In 1939, the school was consolidated into Fort Valley State College (now Fort Valley State University) by the State of Georgia.
History
Fort Valley High and Industrial School was opened in 1890, and chartered in 1896. Some of the school's financial endowment was donated by the Slater Fund.
The first school building was completed in 1895 and also used as an Odd Fellows' Hall, and was a two-story frame structure built and paid for by the local Black community.
Student enrollment varied seasonally based on the local cotton farms' schedule. Notable teachers included J. H. Torburt, Inez P. Brockway, and C. B. Johnson.
Principals of the school included John W. Davison (J. W. Davison), Hunt served as the second principal from 1904 to 1938. He was born in 1886 in Sparta, Georgia, and was a 1890 graduate of Atlanta University. He was buried on the campus, and a painted portrait of Hunt by artist Dean Aaron Brown was donated to the school in his honor a few months after. The Fort Valley High and Industrial School and the State Teachers and Agricultural College for Negroes in Forsyth, Georgia were both consolidated at the same time to form the Fort Valley State College (now Fort Valley State University) with Horace Mann Bond as its president.
See also
- List of Rosenwald schools