Rev. Alfred Jones III speaks to students at the Appomattox Middle School during the Black History Month presentation.

 Charles Conrad

The Appomattox Middle School hosted a presentation in honor of Black History Month on February 23 with guest speaker Alfred Jones III addressing the student body on the importance of learning the history of slavery and the Civil War period.

Jones III is a pastor, retired teacher and genealogist who currently serves as a member of the Appomattox County School Board. He is also the founder of the Appomattox Black Civil War Legacy Museum, a virtual museum website that tells the stories of African-American slaves.

There were several 35-minute sessions during both the morning and afternoon hours in the school’s gymnasium for groups of students to participate. Displays featuring old photographs of former slaves and other prominent local Civil War period figures were set up on props in front of the bleachers.

One mission of Jones III at the event was to teach young people that what they learn about history from the media and in textbooks isn’t always the whole story and that it’s important for them to research their own ancestry for truths they might not have otherwise known.

“What I hope to communicate with the kids is that history is complicated. Even Civil War history is not the black people against the white people and the white people against the black people,” Jones said. “There are stories of where their lives intertwine. There are instances where white people came to the aid of former slaves. There are stories of the KKK attacking those African-Americans who were trying to understand what freedom means after the Emancipation and there were white people who played a positive part in working with these newly freed people to help them to be able to navigate their new reality.”

Jones III shared his vast knowledge of the subject with the students, telling a number of interesting stories with local connections.

Pink McKinney, the great grandfather of retired Appomattox County school teacher Dianne Scruggs, was a former slave who was owned by Samuel Overton. Overton was captured by Union soldiers in Prince Edward County and was taken with other prisoners of war to a prison hospital in Hopewell and transferred to Lincoln Hospital in Washington, D.C. McKinney was freed due the capture of his slave master, but instead of fleeing, McKinney traveled to stay with Overton and later returned with him to Appomattox several months after the war ended.

Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Chapman Armstrong of the Union Army commanded a troop of 6,000 black soldiers, dressed in Union blue colors, into Appomattox on April 9, 1865. The unit was known as the USCT (United Stated Colored Troops) and their arrival likely shocked and angered some of the local residents. Armstrong, a member of the Freedmen’s Bureau, also founded the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute — now Hampton University — for the purpose of providing higher education for free men and Native Americans. The school’s most famous student was none other than Booker T. Washington.

Millie Craig, a slave of George Peers, helped save the life of Peers’ baby during the fighting of the Battle of Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. As bullets and cannon balls were flying all around, she carried the eight-month-old child to the bottom of a hill near a creek and laid on top of him. In her accounts, she told of a soldier whose horse jumped over top of her and an officer who told her “Little girl, the war is over” and later cooking food for Yankee soldiers at her home.

A chapter of the KKK attempted to wreak havoc in the area by burning down the Plymouth Rock School for black children and threatening the white founder, Charles McMahon from Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts.

One of the photos on display was of Charles Johnson. He was the son of Fleming Johnson, a black preacher who was physically assaulted by KKK members and was one of the founders of the Galilee Baptist Church.

The most tangibly compelling display at the event was an authentic slave chair from the house of slave owner Samuel H. Coleman. The Colemans owned a slave named Hannah Reynolds, who was married. Coleman took his family to safety at the commencement of the Appomattox battle, but Reynolds remained at the home.

As she was inside the home, she suffered a life-threatening injury when struck in the arm by an artillery shell which penetrated the cabin. The doctor who attempted to save her life, as her grieving husband stood by, was a member of the Union Army. Reynolds died on April 12 as a free woman, making her the only casualty of the Battle of Appomattox Court House.

Upon returning to their home, the Colemans discovered two chairs outside in the yard. The location of one chair is unknown, but the other chair, which was on display at the school, is owned by Al Sears of Appomattox and is being loaned to Jones III to take around the country for speaking engagements. What is especially distinct about slave chairs, such as the one formerly belonging to Reynolds, is that the seats were built very low because the slave masters would not allow their slaves to be seated higher than the children of the home. In other words, the slaves were subjugated to the authority of even the slave owners’ children.

There were other personal stories told by Jones III and two students, who have genealogical ties to local slavery and the Civil War, were called to come forward to see photos of their ancestors.

Assistant Principal Stephanie Totty was pleased to present the Black History Month event to the middle school students and hopes that it will help them understand the history of race relations and how they can respect one another regardless or racial or family background.

“It was really about contributions of not just African-Americans, but also of white people and how there were times when they were working together,” Totty said. “Reverend Jones really talked about how some of the people of Appomattox came together to work together for good for the community and I think that’s important. It really is about impact, and how you can impact, and thinking about your impact when you study something from history. We really need to learn from mistakes that we’ve made in the past and to grow from that. So that’s what I think is important, too."