Use Restrictions

The copyright and related rights status of this collection have not been evaluated (See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/).

Materials created prior to 1925 are in the Public Domain. These materials have no known restrictions.

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions.

Preferred Citation

St. Emma's Military Academy catalog and postcard, C0380, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.

Acquisition Information

Purchased by Lynn Eaton in 2019.

Processing Information

Processed by Liz Beckman in December 2020. EAD markup by Liz Beckman in December 2020.

Historical Information

St. Emma Military Academy, also known as St. Emma's Military Academy, was a school for Black boys in Powhatan, Virginia. It was founded in 1895 as the St. Emma's Industrial and Agricultural Institute. The school's founders, Edward de Vaux Morrell and his wife Louise, were from Philadelphia. The school was located at Belmead, which had been a plantation where Philip St. George Cocke enslaved hundreds of Black men, women, and children. As noted by Greg McQuade in a news story for WTVR Richmond, "Ten thousand young men graduated in nearly 80 years. A stark contrast to the dark beginnings of Belmead," ("Former cadets push to save old African-American military academy"). Robert Walker, a graduate of the school, said, "You would leave here with a military diploma. A trade diploma and an academic diploma,"(quoted in McQuade, "Former cadets push to save old African-American military academy"). St. Emma's Military Academy closed in 1972.

Scope and Content

Program catalog and postcard sent by a student from St. Emma's Military Academy, a high school for Black boys in Powhattan, VA. The postcard is written by Ernest Noble to his mother Sadie Noble in New York City.

Arrangement

This collection contains two items.

Related Material

The Archives and Special Collections of Manhattan College and the De La Salle Christian Brothers hold material from St. Emma's Military Academy in the De La Salle Christian Brothers Archives of the Baltimore District.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• African American children -- Education
• African American schools
• Military education