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H.H. Poole: A Stafford institution

Date published: 2/16/2005

Stafford County’s first junior high school for black students was dedicated in 1954 in honor of the man who had worked for decades to get such a facility.

Henry Harrison Poole formed a countywide league of black PTAs in 1933 to raise funds to buy property and build a training school for blacks on U.S. 1 north of Fredericksburg. Over time, the facility served various grades—and went by several names—but was the largest school for Stafford blacks during segregation.

After integration, the building was renamed Rowser Education Center, after longtime black educator Ella R. Rowser.

But Poole’s name was carved in stone, once more, when the county opened a new middle school in 1996.

Poole was born near Stafford Courthouse and graduated from Virginia State College. He served as supervisor of black schools in Stafford and King George counties from 1930 to 1953, then became a school principal in Berea.

Our history
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• Gabriel Prosser, inspired by the Bible • Noah Davis, freed his family • Fannie Richards ahead of her time	• John J. Wright devoted leader, reader • Walker-Grant, the men behind the school name • Buffalo soldiers, one earned highest military honor	• Urbane Bass, city doctor • Maddens of Culpeper, 'We were always free' • H.H. Poole, Stafford institution	• Sadie Combs, first teacher at Snell • Philip Wyatt, Soft-spoken activist • Palmer Hayden, Painter of the people	• Venus Jones, First black graduate of MWC • The Lovings, In the National Spotlight • John DeBaptist, Revolutionary War sailor
• Rachael Steers and Susan Loushing, petitioning for change
Sources: "A Different Story" by Ruth Coder Fitzgerald; HistoryPoint.org of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library; The Free Lance-Star archives; State of Michigan Web site; African Within; The Kennedy Center; We Were Always Free By T.O. Madden Jr.; The Richmond Times-Dispatch; Life Magazine; Westmoreland County, Virginia.

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Date published: 2/16/2005