{"id":34596,"date":"2017-08-28T08:08:21","date_gmt":"2017-08-28T12:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=34596"},"modified":"2017-09-05T08:51:23","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T12:51:23","slug":"park-school-celebrates-legacy-racial-harmony-integration-era-massive-resistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/park-school-celebrates-legacy-racial-harmony-integration-era-massive-resistance\/","title":{"rendered":"Park School celebrates legacy of racial harmony and integration in an era of ‘massive resistance’"},"content":{"rendered":"

This weekend, Park School in Harrisonburg hosts its second annual reunion, with special guests to highlight the school\u2019s unique role in local racial integration during the time of \u201cmassive resistance,\u201d a state-sponsored effort to defy federal court orders to integrate Virginia schools.<\/p>\n

The school was built in 1918 by Eastern Mennonite School with two goals: to educate the children of faculty and staff, and\u00a0 for student teachers to gain practical experience. It was taken over by Rockingham County Schools in 1921, but had a primarily Mennonite student body, teaching faculty and administration.\u00a0 A new three-room schoolhouse was built in 1929 to accommodate a growing student body.<\/p>\n