Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation

MSS 16868, Bluestone Baptist Association and Harmony Baptist Association pamphlet collection, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was a purchase from McBride Books to the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Library on 23 August 2024.

Biographical / Historical

Few black Virginians received a formal education until public schools were widely established during Reconstruction.The Virginia Constitution of 1870 mandated a system of public education for the first time. Public schools in Virginia were segregated from the outset, apparently without much thought or debate, on the widely held assumption that such an arrangement would deter conflict. Of course, public schools were segregated in many other states, both North and South. Southern black schools, however, were often dependent on funding from unsympathetic state and local governments controlled by whites, resulting in education programs with fewer resources for both students and teachers. Despite social and economic challenges, African Americans pursued education with great fervor.

The Bluestone Baptist Association was established around 1871, and an area of focus was the education of Black children in Charlotte, Lunenburg, and other surrounding counties.

Successful in their creation of a school, the Harmony Association came into existence in 1877 for a similar goal. The two associations merged in 1900, and the Bluestone-Harmonic Academic and Industrial School was established in Keysville, Virginia.

Sources: Virginia Museum of History and Culture. Accessed 2/06/25 https://virginiahistory.org/learn/civil-rights-movement-virginia/beginnings-black-education

Valentine Richmond History Center, Cook Collection

Content Description

This collection contains one catalog for the Bluestone-Harmony Academic and Industrial School from 1935-1936, two Minutes of the annual session of the Harmony Baptist Sunday School Convention: 45th (1941), 46th (1942), and fourteen minutes of the annual session of the Bluestone Baptist Association: 39th (1910), 43rd (1914), 50th (1921), 51st (1922), 52nd (1923), 53rd (1924), 55th (1926), 58th (1929), 59th (1930), 67th (1938), 69th (1940), 73rd (1944), 75th (1946), 91st (1963).

The minutes note church officers, constitutions of the associations, committee actions, and general announcements. The Bluestone Baptist Association was established around 1871, and an area of focus was the education of Black children in Charlotte, Lunenburg, and other surrounding counties.

Successful in their creation of a school, the Harmony Association came into existence in 1877 for a similar goal. The two associations merged in 1900, and the Bluestone-Harmonic Academic and Industrial School was established in Keysville, Virginia.

In addition to the minutes and catalog is a folder of research complied by the seller, including photocopied portions of "Charlotte County, Virginia: Historical, Statistical, and Present Attractions," "History of the American Negro," "Historic Architectural Survey of Charlotte County, Virginia," and "The Bluestone-Harmonic Academic and Industrial School." As well as printouts from the Bluestone Harmony Baptist Association and Ministries, Inc.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• African American Baptists
• African American schools
• African Americans -- Education
• African Americans -- Virginia
• Bluestone Harmony Association
• Virginia -- History -- 20th century