Museum honoring black history in Appomattox County to open

The Carver-Price Museum will open in the building once housed the Carver-Price High School, and will preserve and celebrate the history of blacks in Appomattox County.

A pre-opening ceremony is set for 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, with formal ceremonies marking the museum’s creation scheduled for the fall when students of the Carver-Price High return for a reunion.

The board of directors of the Carver-Price Alumni Association Inc. invite the public to “view the many worthy contributions made by the Afro-American citizenry of Appomattox County,” a written statement from the association says.

After Sunday’s ceremony, the museum will be open from 2 to 6 p.m. on Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and 2 to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Admission is free.

In creating the museum, the alumni association hopes to make it possible for visitors “to experience our experience,” said Zack Rosser, the association’s president.

The school’s teachers and students were “like a family,” he said.

Carver-Price High was for much of its history housed in what later became Appomattox Elementary. Carver-Price played a central role in the pre- and post-integration education of the county’s black children.

The association’s statement says the museum’s mission is “to maintain and display memorabilia, on a rotating basis, relative to the accomplishments of Carver-Price alumni, teachers, staff, African-American pioneers, schools, churches, businesses and to preserve the educational legacy of Appomattox County.”

One part of the museum will highlight the life of Mozella Jordan Price. She helped create the high school, which originally met in a church, and raised funds to build what became Carver-Price High. Her name was later reflected in the school’s name.

The museum also will include an oral history project in which teachers and students talk about what it was like to be at Carver-Price. The school’s trophies and other sports memorabilia will be on display. One room is set up as a classroom.

The alumni association has received a Rosenwald grant and a grant through the Virginia Department of Historical Resources. The museum shares space with the satellite center of Central Virginia Community College, space made available through the Appomattox County Board of Supervisors.

For more information, visit http://www.carverpricealumni.org.