Armstrong High School (Richmond, Virginia)
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| Image:Armstrong high.jpg | |
| Administration | Dimitric Roseboro (Principal) |
| School type | Public (U.S.) |
| Religious affiliation | None |
| Grade level | 9-12 |
| Year founded | 1870s |
| Location | Richmond, Virginia |
| Enrollment | unknown |
| Campus setting | Urban |
| Mascot | Wildcats |
| Mascot image | none |
| School colors | Blue and Orange |
Armstrong High School, part of the Richmond City Public Schools system, is a high school located in Richmond, Virginia, with grades 9-12.
Known at first as the Richmond Colored Normal School, Armstrong was the first school in Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, for African American students (see racial segregation). Founded in the early 1870s, the Colored Normal School was initially financed by the federal Freedmen's Bureau until it was made part of the Richmond city school system in 1876. The school's name was changed to Armstrong High School in a 1909 transition to a new building. Its namesake is Samuel C. Armstrong, a white commander of a colored regiment during the American Civil War; he later founded the Hampton Institute, a historically black college now known as Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia.
[edit] History
Armstrong's location has changed three times since 1909, in 1923, 1951, and again in 2004.
In 1909, the school was established at First and Leigh Streets and named in honor of General Samuel Armstrong, founder of Hampton University. Armstrong moved to a new, larger facility in 1923 at the corner of Prentis and Leigh Streets (now the Adult Career Development Center), and then to a new location, 1611 North 31st Street, in 1951.
In 2004, Armstrong merged with nearby John F. Kennedy High School, continuing to use the Armstrong name, colors and mascot, despite using the Kennedy building.
[edit] Notable alumni
Virginia Governor Douglas Wilder, the first African American elected governor of a U.S. state, attended Armstrong in the 1940s.
