ETTRICK, Va. -- Thanks to a donation from two tennis legends, a piece of Virginia history house at Virginia State University (VSU) will be catalogued and digitized, allowing for preservation and greater access to the materials.
Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss donated the funds to digitize the archives of the Virginia Interscholastic Association (VIA), of which there are about 50 boxes and 100,000 thousand items.
“Ilana and I are happy to support this important preservation matter because the more you know about history, the more you know about yourself and the more you can shape the future,” King said.
VSU Associate Professor Dr. Kristal Clemons, who has worked with the archives as part of her role teaching the history of education, said the VIA came about after the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
"So, that left each state in the country to determine how they would desegregate their public school system. Virginia in 1954, decided that they would provide equal opportunity to African Americans within the public school system, but it still would be separate," said Clemons. "And so, that's how we find ourselves with the VIA. Virginia State University and the VIA worked together in 1954 to really create a space for historically Black high school students to come and receive the type of professional development and enrichment that they needed in order to thrive as African American students."
From 1954-70, Clemons said the VIA offered a range of programs supporting athletics, the arts, and academia and VSU served as one of the main gathering places.
"This was the space where student council organizations -- honor society, athletic association, arts, all of high school, Black high school students across the Commonwealth of Virginia could come and gather at VSU to get the support that they needed," she added. "This is all really helpful. Because, when you think about the history and legacy of African Americans, sometimes we don't always highlight the wins or the more joyful moments. And so, this gives you an opportunity to see what life was like for African American students at this time period."
Clemons said she had spent many hours in the archives preparing for her classes and among her favorite items in the archives, which includes medals, programs, and letterman patches, is notes from a meeting that talked about fostering leadership, followership, and scholarship.
"It's a such a beautiful document, because it's explaining to high school students, what does it mean to represent yourself, your family, your community. And how do you go on to college, to be upstanding citizen, and to be someone who's hardworking and diligent in their studies."
She said she also has her students use the archives for their research.
"Because, I try to explain to my students that you don't know where you're going until you know where you've been. And so, when you have this foundation and these beautiful primary sources, where you can learn more about the lived experience of people from a different generation, it just excites me," she said. "Sometimes students are only exposed to history via a textbook and to have history come alive through primary sources like this -- it motivates the student to do more with the work."
Among the students who graduated from VIA schools and took those lessons to heart was Armstrong High School graduate and tennis legend Arthur Ashe. Ashe is among those enshrined in the VIA Hall of Fame. The 2023 class will be inducted later this month, including award-winning tennis journalist Doug Smith.
Kloss and King spoke of the importance of preserving those students legacies and the VIA.
“We look forward to ensuring these important records are digitized,” Kloss said. “It’s truly a pleasure to be able to do something meaningful to support an organization that has honored both Arthur Ashe and Doug Smith.”
For Clemons, while she said nothing beats going into the archives, digitizing the records will make it accessible to even more people and hopes that this project will serve as a blueprint for other states to copy. She added it also serves as a full circle moment for VSU.
"So, to see all these years later, we now have the archives and we are home to these wonderful archives it just extends what we've already known, right, as VSU Trojans that greater indeed happens here. And that we will now have an opportunity to share all of our archival material or historical resources with those who are interested in continuing this kind of research."
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