Opened 1940 Grades 9-12 Newspaper Lane Times Founded 1940 | Closed 1974 Publication Bumble Bee (magazine) Mascot Black Knight Color orange and black █ █ | |
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Sports football, basketball, baseball, gymnastics, wrestling. Headquarters Charlottesville, Virginia, United States | ||
Lane High School, in Charlottesville, Virginia, 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 formerly attended Jackson P. Burley High School. It became too small to accommodate the student body, and was replaced by Charlottesville High School. In 1981, the building was converted for use as the Albemarle County Office Building, for which it has remained in use until the present day.
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The structure was designed by Lynchburg, Virginia architect Pendleton Scott Clark and was built in 1939 on the site of an African-American Episcopal chapel. It was named after the 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. ordered nine schools in Virginia to close, including Lane, under the authority of a series of state laws known as the Stanley plan, a part of the state's Massive Resistance 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.