THE TIGER AND THE TORCH ebook

AN HBCU IN CHRISTIANSBURG, VA?
Christiansburg Institute (CI) had humble beginnings similar to those at both
Hampton University 74 in Virginia and Tuskegee University 75 in Alabama. Some of
the same people were involved during the same time and doing some of the
same things. Given the shared history and connections and CI’s dual
accreditation status for college courses, it too had the potential to become one
of Virginia’s HBCUs. In the 1990s, a local newspaper ran an article about CI’s
potential with the following headline, “Institute accredited first in New River.”
This supports the concept and starts out saying,
“Which school in Montgomery County was the first to gain national
prominence?
Virginia Tech?
No. It was a small, one-room wood frame school in Christiansburg
with 12 black students which opened its doors six years before Tech,
then known as the Virginia, Agricultural and Mechanical College,
began operation in 1872.
From this small school grew the Christiansburg Institute which ranked
with the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and the Hampton Institute, as
the best black schools in the South around 1900, according to Radford
University Librarian Ann Swain.
Swain, who has spent several years researching the school’s history,
said the school educated blacks for 100 years—from 1866 to 1966— a
record unmatched by any similar elementary or secondary school.” 76
Indeed the school was unlike any other in the immediate area. We can only
speculate about what could have become of Christiansburg Institute. People
had to move on and they did; however, the history remains, the legacy remains
and some buildings remain.
ROAR! “WHERE AT H AMPTON THE PEOPLE HAVE GONE TO SCHOOL; AT
CHRISTIANSBURG THE SCHOOL HAS GONE TO THE PEOPLE.” 77
EDGAR A. LONG
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