Alexandria History

New Exhibit at Barrett Branch: ‘African-American Education in Alexandria’

This front page of The Alexandria Gazette newspaper from 1959 is one of the items on display as part of the exhibit, “African-American Education in Alexandria. (Image courtesy Alexandria Library)

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Alexandria Library is hosting an interesting new exhibit called “African-American Education in Alexandria.” Running through October, it is housed in the Local History/Special Collections Branch at the Kate Waller Barrett Branch (717 Queen St.).

The purpose of the exhibit is to give viewers an understanding of the difficulties experienced by Black students who attended this city’s schools from the 1950s through the Civil Rights Movement.

Some of the items on display, accoreding to a library newsletter, include correspondence discussing the integration of schools, yearbooks with historic photos, and newspaper reports from that time. These items come from the Alexandria Library’s own archives.

Accompanying the items is a digital display of records from the NAACP and Library of Congress about Alexandria and integration.

After viewing the exhibit, visit HERE to learn even more.

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Kevin Dauray

Kevin is Publisher's Assistant with The Zebra Press. He has been working for Alexandria's "Good News" newspaper since 2019. A graduate of George Mason University, he earned a bachelor's in English with a concentration in Creative Writing. He also studied at the Columbia School of Broadcasting and holds a master's degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Marymount University. He is an alumnus of T.C. Williams High School. Go Titans!

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