Chap­ter 5 delves into the remark­able con­tri­bu­tions of Jack­son Davis and Vir­ginia Ran­dolph in Hen­ri­co Coun­ty, Vir­ginia, dur­ing the ear­ly 20th cen­tu­ry. Inspired by Book­er T. Washington’s edu­ca­tion­al phi­los­o­phy, Jack­son Davis sought fund­ing from the Jeanes Fund to sup­port the edu­ca­tion of Black chil­dren. Wash­ing­ton’s approach empha­sized prac­ti­cal skills and self-reliance over protests, advo­cat­ing for grad­ual improve­ments in the eco­nom­ic sta­tus of Black com­mu­ni­ties. Davis pro­posed the allo­ca­tion of the funds for Vir­ginia Ran­dolph, a ded­i­cat­ed edu­ca­tor who exem­pli­fied the val­ues Wash­ing­ton espoused. Randolph’s appoint­ment as the first Jeanes teacher was seen as a sig­nif­i­cant achieve­ment, and she viewed it as an oppor­tu­ni­ty to trans­form the edu­ca­tion­al expe­ri­ence for Black chil­dren. Her ded­i­ca­tion and vision set the stage for a broad­er move­ment in the South, where the Jeanes Fund would go on to sup­port many more teach­ers work­ing in sim­i­lar envi­ron­ments.

Vir­ginia Randolph’s suc­cess as a super­vis­ing teacher was deeply tied to her abil­i­ty to con­nect with her com­mu­ni­ty. She active­ly engaged with local church ser­vices and com­mu­ni­ty events, mak­ing efforts to build strong rela­tion­ships with the fam­i­lies of her stu­dents. Her work at Moun­tain Road School became a mod­el of effec­tive edu­ca­tion, blend­ing for­mal learn­ing with com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment. Ran­dolph was not only con­cerned with the intel­lec­tu­al devel­op­ment of her stu­dents but also focused on their phys­i­cal and emo­tion­al well-being. Her belief in edu­ca­tion as a trans­for­ma­tive force extend­ed beyond the class­room, as she orga­nized health checks, evening adult class­es, and hygiene lessons. This holis­tic approach earned her immense respect and admi­ra­tion, and her work inspired oth­er dis­tricts to estab­lish sim­i­lar edu­ca­tion­al roles, cre­at­ing a rip­ple effect across the region. As her influ­ence grew, she expand­ed her pro­grams to include Sun­day Schools and health ini­tia­tives, ensur­ing her stu­dents received a well-round­ed edu­ca­tion that pre­pared them for life beyond the class­room.

The com­mu­ni­ty’s sup­port for Randolph’s efforts was evi­dent in the way local fam­i­lies ral­lied behind her, even in the face of finan­cial hard­ship. Despite lim­it­ed resources, Virginia’s tire­less com­mit­ment to her stu­dents led to the con­struc­tion of a new school in 1915, which was fund­ed large­ly through local con­tri­bu­tions. The school became a bea­con of progress in Hen­ri­co Coun­ty, attract­ing atten­tion from across the South due to its inno­v­a­tive approach to edu­ca­tion. Randolph’s focus on empow­er­ing her stu­dents and their fam­i­lies through edu­ca­tion, along with her abil­i­ty to fos­ter a sense of com­mu­ni­ty, made the school a sym­bol of hope and growth. As the school flour­ished, it served as a tes­ta­ment to the pow­er of grass­roots efforts in over­com­ing sys­temic chal­lenges. Even as the school became more estab­lished, Ran­dolph con­tin­ued to inno­vate and expand her vision for edu­ca­tion, cre­at­ing last­ing change in her com­mu­ni­ty.

How­ev­er, tragedy struck in 1929 when the Vir­ginia Ran­dolph Train­ing Acad­e­my was destroyed by a dev­as­tat­ing fire. The loss was deeply per­son­al for Ran­dolph, as the school had been the cul­mi­na­tion of her life’s work. Yet, her resilience remained unshak­en. Instead of suc­cumb­ing to despair, she began plan­ning for the rebuild­ing of the school almost imme­di­ate­ly after the fire. Her deter­mi­na­tion to con­tin­ue her work, despite the set­backs, under­scored the strength of her char­ac­ter and her unwa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to her stu­dents. Over the years, she con­tin­ued to look after the needs of her com­mu­ni­ty, adopt­ing chil­dren and pro­vid­ing care for those in need, all while main­tain­ing her role as an edu­ca­tor. Even though finan­cial chal­lenges remained, she nev­er wavered in her mis­sion to empow­er her stu­dents, even­tu­al­ly turn­ing to farm­ing edu­ca­tion to teach her stu­dents the impor­tance of self-suf­fi­cien­cy.

Vir­ginia Randolph’s lega­cy extend­ed far beyond the bor­ders of Hen­ri­co Coun­ty, as she became a respect­ed men­tor for oth­er edu­ca­tors. She trained count­less teach­ers, impart­ing her vision of com­pre­hen­sive edu­ca­tion that val­ued both aca­d­e­m­ic and per­son­al growth. Ran­dolph did not retire until 1949, after near­ly six decades of ded­i­ca­tion to teach­ing and com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice. Her impact con­tin­ued to be felt long after her pass­ing in 1958, with her meth­ods and val­ues liv­ing on in the edu­ca­tion­al prac­tices that fol­lowed. Vir­ginia Randolph’s life stands as a pow­er­ful tes­ta­ment to the last­ing impact of a sin­gle educator’s ded­i­ca­tion to improv­ing the lives of oth­ers. Through her tire­less work, she was able to uplift gen­er­a­tions of stu­dents and con­tribute to the broad­er move­ment for edu­ca­tion­al equal­i­ty, espe­cial­ly with­in Black com­mu­ni­ties. Her sto­ry remains an endur­ing exam­ple of how one person’s deter­mi­na­tion can break down bar­ri­ers and cre­ate oppor­tu­ni­ties for future gen­er­a­tions.