Historical highway markers

Pocahontas High School

Historical highway marker O-71 · Powhatan County

Powhatan County established Powhatan Training School one mile southeast in 1931 to offer upper-level courses to African American students. In 1937 on this site the county built a brick high school for African Americans at a cost of about $40,000. The Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, a New Deal agency, granted $18,000 for the project. Additional support came from the Virginia Board of Education's Literary Fund and the Southern Education Foundation, which aided African American schools across the South. The building was named Pocahontas High School in 1941 and Pocahontas Middle School in 1969, when county schools were desegregated.

Department of Historic Resources, 2015