Douglass dedication

continued from page 1 should change from what the county had to offer in terms of educational resources for Black children,” Avery said. “Over 52 years ago, they left a mark on the history of Loudoun County and each of you, each citizen, each dignitary, each community member, each of you is supporting that legacy by participating in the restoration and rededication of the historic Douglass High School. So let me welcome you historians, each and every one of you.”

Speakers included former Loudoun Douglass High School Alumni Association president Arnold Ambers from the class of 1960, Acting Superintendent Daniel Smith, School Board Chair Ian Serotkin (Blue Ridge), Leesburg Mayor Kelly Burk, County Chair Phyllis J. Randall (D-At Large) and Kevin Douglass Greene, the great-great-grandson of Frederick Douglass.

Ambers shared his memories of the school and talked about the respect the students had for the school and the teachers. He said the teachers were determined to give their students everything they could to prepare them for their future.

“Whether they were going to college, into the armed services, or having an everyday job, you were going to be prepared, because they came up through the ranks just like us and they knew what we should expect, and it wasn’t going to be an easy road. You had to be twice as good as the other guy,” he said.

He shared stories of other segregated schools hating to play basketball at Douglass because the gym was too small, and how much he loved to come to school every day from his farm in Lucketts.

Serotkin spoke of working with the DHSCC and of how critical it was “to get this right by giving everyone a seat at the table.”

“As community leaders, it is our responsibility to stand beside them, to learn from the school’s storied past, to safeguard its presence within our community and to ensure its continued success for generations to come,” he said. “This place is more than just a building, more than just a school. Douglass High School embodies cherished ideals and an unwavering commitment to public education. The unity of family, friends and mentors all of it represents the struggle for what is right, what is just and what can be achieved when a community unites.”

Randall spoke of the school being more than just the building but being made up of the people who attended it and who had to be “twice as good to get half as much.”

She said she is often asked what it means to be the first person of color in Virginia history to be an elected county chair and said you don’t get there by yourself and credited it to the path set down by the Douglass alumni.

“I am here because of you. … In my head, I have this idea where a magic baton is passed from generation to generation to generation and at some point along the way I believe the people from Douglass have passed me the baton and if I am to do anything correct the only one thing that I have to do is this, take the baton that has been given to me by you all and pass it on to the next generation,” she said.

Sean Johnson, son of Erica Bush and descendent of Douglass alumnus Barbara Sheppard Bush, introduced Greene. He said he was “very thrilled” when he learned Greene would be the guest speaker and that he would be introducing him.

“After all, who better to speak to us today than Mr. Greene? Who just so happens to be the great-great-grandson of abolitionist Frederick Douglass,” he said.

Greene, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Army with a passion to end enslavement, human trafficking and racism, spoke about the evolution of Frederick Douglass’s freedom.

Greene said Douglass experienced freedom several times in his life, comparing the stages to the birth and rebirth many people experience once they are born then when they give their life to God.

“Frederick Douglass was freed more than once. He gained his freedom in different stages, and we often think about that eventual escape to freedom but [he] was free before that,” he said.

He noted the first time Douglass was of her friend and Leesburg resident Janet Wiggins, who graduated from Douglass in 1965.

“She kept calling and saying, ‘are you coming, are you coming, are you coming?’” Counts said of Wiggins.

“When I saw the stones and they said ‘welcome’ then it said, ‘our journey, our story our life,’ tears just rolled down. It was very emotional,” Wiggins said of the engraved stones leading to the entrance of the school.

Walter Bryant, a 1959 alumnus, said he became a biology teacher because of his own biology teacher at Douglass, George Barrett.

“He was what any young man would look at an older male and say that is what I want to be like, he was a good example.” Bryant said.

“freed” was as a child when he made the decision to educate himself.

Another was when he was sent to a man named Edward Covey, who was considered a “slave breaker,” after Douglass tried to start a Sunday school for other enslaved people. Covey often whipped and beat Douglass. Douglass eventually fought back and won a physical confrontation that resulted in never being beaten by Covey again. Greene said Douglass was “freed” in this instance because the fight renewed Douglass’ resolve to be free, and he became free in his mind and soul.

The final time Douglass was freed according to Greene was when British supporters bought his freedom, years after he had physically escaped by boarding a northbound train. Greene said he had been free long before that, but this was “just the matter of paperwork.”

After Greene spoke, attendees watched a video presentation of the renovation of the historic school with interviews of alumni and the sealing of a time capsule that will be opened in 50 years.

A ribbon cutting was held outside at the entrance to the original Douglass High School.

Inside is the original basketball court surrounded by six rooms named after Douglass teachers, several display cases holding memorabilia from the graduating classes of the school from 1941-1968 and a timeline of the history of the school.

Several alumni were in attendance Sunday, many traveling from other parts of the country to be there.

Janet Bryant Counts graduated from Loudoun County High School but attended Douglass until her junior year. She traveled from Maryland at the insistence

The Murray sisters, Helen Murray Cook of the class of 1963, Peggy Murray Washington the class of 1966 and Virginia Murray McCorn the class of 1954—just three of nine siblings who attended Douglass—talked about being in the National Honor Society and a favorite teacher, Mrs. Briscoe.

Josie Stewart was a substitute teacher at the Douglass School in 1977. She later served as the assistant principal in the 1980s when it was an alternative high school and special education center. She went on to become the first black female principal for secondary schools in Loudoun County.

“I would say to children of today, we as seniors now stand on other shoulders who came before us. And I encourage them to go forward with education. Get as much as you can and the only person that can stop you from getting an education is you yourself. So, push forward, don’t give up, and never stop,” she said to the children of today. “All failures open the door for new opportunities.”

The reopened campus will include the school division’s Welcome Center, the Head Start and Starting Towards Excellence in Preschool programs, the Preschool Child Find office, and Loudoun County Parks and Recreation Community Center programs. It also will house offices of the Loudoun Douglass High School Alumni Association, the Edwin Washington Society, and the NAACP Loudoun Branch and feature a rotating collection of historic photographs, memorabilia and other exhibits honoring the rich legacy of those who helped ensure African American children in Loudoun County could receive an accredited secondary education.

The campus will be open for public tours this weekend from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 27, and Sunday, May 28. n