African American Heritage Center at CCCC
The mission of the African American Heritage Center is to honor the rich and continually unfolding legacy of the Calfee Training School, to fill the current void in the community’s understanding of local African American history, and to connect all of this to current struggles for equity and fairness by establishing and operating a museum and archive.
The museum will feature highly interactive and multi-sensory exhibits designed to share the story of Pulaski’s struggle for equal education for Black children in such a way that visitors will have no choice but to walk away inspired to act courageously in the face of injustices today and in the future.
All spaces at the Calfee Center are named for the historic school’s educators whose portraits and biographical information grace the hallways.
Calfee student portraits greet visitors as they enter the building.
Thanks to grants from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund and the Virginia Museum of History and Culture’s Commonwealth History Fund, the Quiet Courage exhibit has been designed and is ready to produce when the front portion of the building has been renovated.
Check out the 23/54 Project site to learn about the 23 brave Pulaski families who took on the Pulaski County School Board in a struggle for equal educational opportunities for Black children.
The 23/54 Project is sponsored by the Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia initiative of Virginia Tech, funded by the Mellon Foundation.
