“The Albemarle 26” Pioneers of Equality in Education
- ocaahs
- Oct 1, 2025
- 3 min read
"The Albemarle 26" Marker
Inscription. On 3 Sept. 1963, nine years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared racial segregation of public schools unconstitutional, 26 African-American students desegregated Albemarle High, Stone-Robinson Elementary, and Greenwood School. With the leadership and support of their parents, community members, and the Rev. R.A. Johnson, these students courageously sought and obtained the equal education deserved by all.Eighteen students formerly at Rose Hill Elementary in Charlottesville, Virginia, were the first to desegregate Stone-Robinson Elementary:
Donnell Bates Jr., Garry Garland, Nathaniel Garland, Alfred Hawkins, Leon Hawkins, Haywood Johnson, Joan Johnson, Lewis Johnson, Matthew Johnson, Orlando Johnson, Sharon Johnson, Annetta Thompson, Theodore Thompson, Patricia Washington, Walter White, Gertrude Yates, James Yates, Jane Yates
Erected 2019 by Albemarle County Public Schools.
Matthew Johnson remembers being stared down and questioned when he walked into Stone-Robinson Elementary 56 years ago to attend second grade.
Johnson was part of a group of 26 students who were the first to desegregate three county schools in 1963. Albemarle County Public Schools named and recognized these students for the first time Friday — the 65th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that made school segregation unconstitutional.
Historical markers bearing the names of the 26 students are now installed at Stone-Robinson, the former Greenwood School in Crozet and Albemarle High School.
“What I really want for people to get out of it is for the students and administrators who are currently at the schools, when they see that plaque, when they walk in these doors every day, I want them to understand what people had to go through before them in order for them to have the experience that they have,” said Lorenzo Dickerson, a local filmmaker and web specialist for the division.
Dickerson spearheaded the effort to identify and celebrate the 26 students.
Virginia opposed the decision through several measures as part of Massive Resistance. Gov. Lindsay Almond ordered the closure of two schools in Charlottesville to avoid integration. Albemarle County didn’t face a court battle over desegregation but still took nearly 13 years to fully integrate in 1967.
Johnson said his mother pressed the School Board and fought for him and his siblings to enroll in Stone-Robinson. They were attending Rose Hill Elementary in the city.
“It’s because of our mother,” he said. “She fought for this for years.”
He welcomed the recognition Friday.
“We never got recognized for the stuff we did at Albemarle,” Johnson said.
Dickerson also made a 16-minute video featuring interviews with nine of the students that was released Friday.
“I’m hoping that people will start to understand that desegregation happened in the county, as well,” he said.
Dickerson said the idea to look into the Albemarle 26 stemmed from his recent documentary on Albemarle's black classrooms, as well as from the Charlottesville 12 marker outside the Albemarle County Office Building, which was previously Lane High School. The city installed two markers honoring the Charlottesville 12 in 2011.
“The thought was, why haven't we done this for the county students a long time ago,” Dickerson said. “It's overdue.”
The video focused on their first day of school, riding the bus, leaving their teachers and being held back. Dickerson found that 14 of the 26 students were held back the next school year.
“That’s tough because that was one of the things we were trying to eliminate by integration,” Nathaniel Garland, one of the 26, said in the film.
Lewis Johnson, who also attended Stone-Robinson, said in the film that the teacher asked him help tutor other black children and that he made good grades during the school year. However, on the final report card, he was given straight F’s.
“Where it came from, I don’t know,” he said, adding later that the experience made it more difficult to trust people.
ZACK WAJSGRAS/THE DAILY PROGRESS
The unveiled plaque is seen after a dedication ceremony commemorating the first students to integrate into Albemarle County schools at Albemarle County High School on Friday.
The markers highlight the work of parents and community members, including the Rev. R.A. Johnson, to integrate the schools.
Dickerson said Johnson, pastor at Zion Hill Baptist Church in Cismont, was the leader of a coalition of parents. He would drive parents to pick up Pupil Placement Board applications and plan desegregation in meetings at the church and at their homes.
“It was his brainchild and then the parents came on board, and they worked together,” he said.
Matt Haas, superintendent of Albemarle County schools, said the Albemarle 26 inspire him.
“I hope someday I will make all of you, our true pioneers for equity, proud of me for the work that I am trying to do,” he said. “ … In many ways, you started a powerful change, and it is our job to see it through.”
