Charlottesville school looks back on its history

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Burley Middle School held a celebration ceremony Saturday, May 20, to announce the retirement of the school’s colors when it was Burley High School.

Guest speakers and former alumni shared stories about the history of the former all-Black school. The school was open from 1951 through 1967, and gave Black students in Charlottesville a place to learn during a time of segregation.

“We stand on the shoulders of greatness. The students of Jackson Price Burley High School thrived in a very close-knit community here despite the ills of society and all the things they had stacked up against them,” Principal Kassaundra Blount said.

Blount says the school also has plans to create an entire unit teaching students about the history of J.P. Burley.

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