This is the official website of Sumnerite Association Inc.
Dedicated to the Preservation of the Legacy of The Colored School of Parkersburg, Virginia
Which is now the Historic Sumner School and Cultural museum
In current day Parkersburg, West Virginia
About the Sumner School
The Colored School of Parkersburg, Virginia was the first school established and granted the right to freely educate blacks in a Southern State (South of the Mason-Dixon line in what were confederate states) started January 1st, 1862. Authorization to establish the school and begin teaching was said to have been authorized directly by President Abraham Lincoln to one of its founders, a black man Robert Simmons, after a historic horseback ride to meet with him in Washington, DC. The institution became a landmark in the history of education becoming the first public school of its kind anywhere. Its rich historical significance is centered around the context of its establishment in the State of Virginia predating West Virginia’s statehood and hence it’s a formal education system where it become the state’s earliest black public school in 1866.
What is the Sumnerite Association Incorporated?
To preserve the rich historical context of the Colored School of Parkersburg (known as Sumner School and then Sunshine School) and to provide a present community context for multiculturalism by renovating the building into a year-round museum, learning center, and community center for public use.