Luray, VA
American slavery was, of course, a horrible institution. Here we have what is
said to be a slave auction block, where enslaved people were displayed for
potential buyers.
The Narrative of Bethany Veney
is a short and fascinating [online] autobiography of an enslaved woman who
lived in the area and faced auction but managed to avoid being sold into a new
(and potentially worse) situation.
Read the
text on Historical Marker Database.
We can find a more hopeful piece of Luray history on West Main Street. The
Andrew Jackson school was built for Black students a century ago. It now
serves as a recreation center for the community and also has a museum that’s
open on Saturday afternoons.
The school was not named for President Andrew Jackson; it was named after a local Black businessman. This was a Rosenwald school, one of over 5000 schools built in the south with support from communities and Julius Rosenwald in partnership with Booker T. Washington. It functioned as a school until 1959.
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