The Yancey School Community Center celebrates Black History Month

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - At the Yancey School Community Center, a series of programs and conversations were held to celebrate Black History Month.

Ed Brooks works as the program coordinator for the community center, and for him the role is personal.

“I came here in second grade in 1967, and I was in the first class of the fully segregated Yancey School,” Brooks said. “My mother was here, and the old Esmont High School and then all three of my children graduated from here at Yancey.”

The center also hosted a screening of a new local documentary as part of the event. The film is titled ‘Reconstructed: The Builing of African American Communities Through Faith and Education.’

“It really showcases the resiliency of African Americans during Reconstruction shortly after the Civil War. How in just a few years, they were building churches, And then shortly after that, they were building schools, and they also owned their own businesses and stores,” filmmaker Horace Scruggs said.

Scruggs says the documentary is mainly based in Fluvanna County, where he grew up.

“My parents and some of my sisters went to some of the Washington Rosenwald schools. So for me, creating the documentary and interviewing all the people in it was very special because I knew the communities that we were talking about,” Scruggs said.

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