Edwin Washington Society

All of the people who work for the project are volunteers. Some have degrees in history and library/information science. One volunteer is a cartographer and another is gaining a PhD in education. Others are just interested citizens, white, African-American and other, wanting to understand our county’s past.

Documenting segregated education in Loudoun County and neighboring counties.

In June, 1867, a “colored” 16 year old boy named Edwin Washington worked in a hotel in Leesburg, Virginia for five dollars a month, plus board, with the “privilege of coming to school” in between errands.   Unfortunately, this meant he couldn’t attend school on a regular basis, or at all during court weeks.  Still, he went to class whenever he could.

This research project is a monument to Edwin and all of the African-American children and their parents, educators and patrons of that time and through to the end of segregation in Loudoun County in order to honor their bravery and tenacity to learn. The project is done in collaboration with the Records Office of the Loudoun County Public Schools, local history clubs, private and government archives and the Black History Committee of the Friends of the Balch Library.