Calfee Training School

Pulaski County · dedicated 2023 · 1 Corbin-Harmon Drive

Pulaski Graded School, later renamed Calfee Training School, was built in 1894. The building, which served Black students eventually through grade 11, burned in 1938. With help from Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP, faculty members Chauncey Harmon and Willis Gravely petitioned the school board in 1939 for equal facilities and teacher pay. Calfee was rebuilt as an elementary school using Public Works Administration funds, and Black high school students were sent away to Christiansburg Industrial Institute. In Corbin v. County School Board (1949), a federal court ruled that Pulaski’s Black high school students were unlawfully denied equal educational opportunities. Schools were desegregated in 1966.

USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection

Example

under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

From one family's 77-marker roster

Upload your family tree and TreeAlive finds the markers near where your own ancestors lived.

See your family's markers

Start with a tree file, a FamilySearch sign in, or a WikiTree ID.

Report a problem with this page

The marker isn't at this spotOur pin may be off. If you know where it stands, tell us.I couldn't find the markerWe record what the source recorded. We have not been to look.The sign reads differentlyThat would be an error, and we can pass it to the program.The historical map looks wrongThe period map behind the pin, not the marker itself.Something else

We may pass what you report to the state's marker program. Please don't include personal details.

Marker program managed by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

More markers nearby

On the National Register nearby

Calfee Training School210 ft

Places within about 300 feet of this marker that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A nearby listing is not always the marker's own subject.