Harrison School
Harrison School
Harrison School is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The school is significant because it symbolizes the pioneering efforts of Lucy Addison and other Black educators in Southwest Virginia who strived to offer academic secondary instruction to all children regardless of race.
Throughout its history, Harrison School served as a major center for black educational, social, and cultural activities in Roanoke, as well as a place of secondary and elementary instruction for Black professional and civic leaders. Harrison School was visited by such dignitaries as George Washington Carver and Jesse Owen. Oliver White Hill, attended Harrison Elementary School while growing up in Roanoke, but had to move to Washington, DC to continue his high school education.
Following the closure of Harrison School in 1971, the building was boarded up, deteriorated, and became a target for demolition. The threat of demolition of this special community building was very upsetting to retired teacher and civic leader, Hazel B. Thompson. She successfully championed preservation of the historic school and changed the minds of city leaders. She continued to collaborate with community leaders to solicit federal and city funding to acquire the building and reuse it for senior housing and a cultural center for the Harrison Museum of African American Culture. The restored building opened in 1985. Today the building still stands and operates as a senior housing facility.
Hazel B. Thompson, an educator and former graduate of Harrison School, approached City Manager Bern Ewert and firmly stated,
“You can’t tear down that school! it doesn’t belong to the city; it belongs to the people.”
Thompson was named Citizen of the Year in 1983. Later, in 1985, HUD honored her and the neighborhood organization, Northwest Neighborhood Improvement Council, with a Fair Housing Award.