The Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth was a bustling school with numerous classrooms and residential buildings, a dairy barn, orchard and farm, and other amenities meant to sustain and educate African-American students from all over Virginia. Built at a time when segregation created a lack of formal education opportunities for African-Americans, the school offered academic courses in mathematics, geography, music, literature and English. Vocational training included carpentry, blacksmithing, shoemaking and painting for boys, and sewing, cooking, the domestic arts and laundry methods for girls. Students graduated with skills that helped them be successful at home and at work.