‘Historical buildings should not be destroyed’: Former student responds to Pocahontas Middle demolition

POWHATAN COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- As plans to partially demolish the old Pocahontas Middle School continue, a former student told 8News she wants it to stay put.  

8News previously reported on the Powhatan County School Board's 4-1 vote for the demolition in June. The Board of Supervisor then told 8News they wanted to take over the land, refurbish the buildings and use it as a community center. 

As the first Black student to graduate from Powhatan High School, Sandra Morris Kemp remembers her years on the Pocahontas campus fondly, and her message about the partial demolition is clear.  

“Historical buildings should not be destroyed," she said. "They should be repurposed.”  

Kemp was born in Powhatan in 1946. Her ancestry goes as far back as 1832 on the Cocke plantation.   

She had all her schooling on the Pocahontas campus as both the high school and elementary schools were located there, later becoming Pocahontas Middle School.  

“[I] developed friendships that have lasted up to the present," Kemp said. "That’s where I had teachers who really cared. They were from the community that I lived in, and it was like they were part of the family.”  

This changed when Kemp was in 10th grade and her family joined the Bell v. School Board of Powhatan County case in 1962.  

“I was watching all these things happening down in Alabama, Mississippi, with the, you know, brutality," Kemp said. "I said, ‘I wanna be a part-- I wish I could be a part of the civil rights movement.’”  

Sixty-five Black students and their families sued the county and won, integrating Powhatan County Public Schools.

“It’s amazing what we achieved," Kemp said.

She then transferred to Powhatan High School and became the first Black student to graduate in the county in 1965 -- but it wasn't the same environment as Pocahontas.   

“There it was cold," she said. "I was isolated... no one spoke to me. It was like, we’re not gonna call you any names but we just won’t speak to you.”  

For Kemp, keeping Pocahontas Middle School standing is a way to keep Powhatan’s history alive.   

“Any historical building should not be demolished," she said.  

The county opened the Powhatan Training School in 1931, offering upper-level courses to Black students. The county then opened what became a segregated high school in 1937. It was initially called the Powhatan Colored School but was changed to Pocahontas High School in 1941. An elementary wing was added in 1950.

In 1969, the school became the integrated Pocahontas Middle School, and the high school was permanently closed.

The entire campus will not be demolished, but this photo shows the parts in gray that will be.  

The county opened a new middle school in 2019, closing Pocahontas Middle and making it the Pocahontas Landmark Center, used as county administrators’ offices and the county’s first African American Cultural Arts Museum.  

Since the school closure in 2019, the school board has discussed what to do with the building.

“The school board refused to give us ownership of the building,” said Chairman of the Powhatan County Board of Supervisors Bill Donati.

Demolition was scheduled to start Monday, July 7, but was rescheduled to Monday, July 14. 8News reached out to the county to ask why there was a change and have not heard back. The demolition is estimated to cost over a million taxpayer dollars.