PHOTO BY ELLIOTT ROBINSON. A plaque commemorating the history of the Hopewell Colored School, now known as Carter G. Woodson Middle School, has been installed at the intersection of Hopewell and Terminal streets near the original location of the school building.

With the completion of brickwork earlier this month, a piece of Hopewell history has been commemorated.
Through the efforts of Ward 2 Councilor the Rev. Curtis Harris Sr., a plaque marking the origins of what is now the Dr. Carter G. Woodson Middle School has been put into place. The plaque stands at the intersection of Hopewell and Terminal Streets just west of the city’s Fire Administration Building. Roughly at that spot in 1924, the Hopewell Colored School opened. Throughout its 44-year history under segregation, it was the principal school for blacks in the city.
During this time, the school only had two principals, the Rev. Harry E. James and Bernard F. Eppes. In 1968, the final all-black class of what was by then named Carter G. Woodson School graduated.
Woodson himself was born in Buckingham County about 75 miles west of the city and was a historian, author and journalist. He is regarded as the father of black history and what would ultimately become Black History Month. He died in 1950.
Since the school’s inception, it moved three times. It began at the aforementioned location at 103 Hopewell Street then moved to 15 Terminal Street in 1942 before opening at its current location in 1958 on Winston Churchill Drive.
The plaque was officially unveiled June 6 although the brickwork on which it would be affixed was not yet complete. The plaque was created with donations and a match fund from the city.

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