The first efforts at providing education for the black residents of Harrisonburg were made by the Freedman's Bureau and Christian Commission in the years immediately following the Civil War. Black teachers came to the south from northern cities and set up schools. The first educational efforts in Harrisonburg came from Martha Smith and Phoby Libby, who established a black school in Harrisonburg in 1868. When the public school system was established in 1872, a two-room school was built on Rock Street near Black's Run in the northern end of Harrisonburg. Mrs. Elizabeth James was the first teacher at this new school. By 1882, these early facilities were inadequate and the Harrisonburg District trustees appropriated $2000 for a new school building. The building was a four-room, two-story brick building built on Effinger Street. (The location is near the present location of Rose's Department Store on North Mason street). About 1910, an addition, including two classrooms and an auditorium, was built to the Effinger school. This school served as a school until 1938, when the new Lucy Simms school was constructed on land in the northeast corner of Harrisonburg. The new school was named for Lucy Simms, who had taught at the Effinger Street school in Harrisonburg for over 50 years Even though the school came under the direction of the Harrisonburg City Schools starting in 1916, many black residents of the county, supported by funding provided by the Rockingham County Schools, were educated at Effinger and, later, Simms School. Principals who served at the Harrisonburg Colored Schools are:
1871-72 Mrs. Elizabeth James
1872-73 Robert Scott
1873-76 (three sessions) James Peterson
1876-83 George A. Newman
1883-84 Lucy F. Simms (Acting Principal)
1884-85 Lucinda Bragg
1885-86 H. H. Suther
1886-90 (four sessions) George A. Newman
1890-91 James P. Johnson
1891-96 (five sessions) George A. Newman
1896-97 James P. Johnson
1897-1908 (eleven sessions) George A. Newman
1908-12 (four sessions) Henry A. M. Johns
1912-15 (three sessions) Hugh V. Brown
1915-16 W. N. P. Harris
The Effinger Street School became part of the Harrisonburg City School system in 1916. Mr. W. N. P. Harris continued as principal at Effinger Street school until it was closed in 1938 and then became the first principal at the new Lucy Simms School.
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