Lane High School, in Charlottesville, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, was a public secondary school serving residents of Charlottesville and Albemarle County from 1940 until 1974. It was an all-white school until its court-ordered integration in 1959; black students attended Jackson P. Burley High School. It became too small to accommodate the student body, and was replaced by Charlottesville High School

Charlottesville High School

Charlottesville High School is a public high school in the independent city of Charlottesville, Virginia, serving students from 9th to 12th grade. It is a part of Charlottesville City Schools....

. In 1981, the building was converted for use as the Albemarle County Office Building, for which it remains in use today.

The structure was designed by Lynchburg, Virginia

Lynchburg, Virginia

Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 75,568 as of 2010. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or "The Hill City." Lynchburg was the only major city in...

 architect Pendleton Scott Clark and built in 1939 on the site of an African-American Episcopal chapel. It was named for former teacher and school superintendent James Waller Lane.

Massive resistance

On September 10, 1958, federal courts ordered public schools in Charlottesville to integrate their racially segregated schools. In response, Virginia Governor James Lindsay Almond, Jr.

James Lindsay Almond, Jr.

James Lindsay Almond, Jr. was a United States federal judge and politician. He served as the 58th Governor of Virginia from 1958 until 1962.-Early life:...

 ordered closed nine schools in Virginia, including Lane, under the authority of a series of state laws known as the Stanley plan

Stanley plan

The Stanley plan was a package of 13 statutes adopted in September 1956 by the U.S. state of Virginia designed to ensure racial segregation in that state's public schools despite the ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, 347 U.S. 483 ....

, a part of the state's Massive Resistance

Massive resistance

Massive resistance was a policy declared by U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr. on February 24, 1956, to unite other white politicians and leaders in Virginia in a campaign of new state laws and policies to prevent public school desegregation after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision...

 policy. The school remained closed from September 19, 1958 until February 4, 1959, when Governor Almond reversed the state's policy and ordered the schools reopened and integrated. During this period, "local residents were subjected to emotional appeals, threats, and predictions of dire consequences representing all points of view concerning segregation." Three African American students enrolled at Lane on September 8, 1959 without incident. Historian John Hammond Moore believes that the process of integrating Lane extended until approximately 1969, writing that it "was characterized by racial friction in some schools, notably Lane, but little actual violence."

Athletics

Lane High School's football program is legendary in Charlottesville for its football team's 53-game winning streak, from 1962-7 under the coaching of Tommy "The Golden Greek" Theodose.

Notable alumni

• Mike Cubbage
  Mike Cubbage
  Michael Lee Cubbage in Charlottesville, VA was an American baseball player who played Major League Baseball from 1974 until the close of the 1981 season...
  
  , American major league baseball player and interim manager of the Boston Red Sox in 2002
• Staige Blackford, editor of Virginia Quarterly Review and press secretary to Virginia Governor Linwood Holton