Foundations of Freedom

Harpers Ferry, including Anthony Hall, was the setting for large and small episodes in the struggle for freedom and equality. In this building, the superintendent of the national armory considered how to strengthen the nation's military. On these fields, great armies fought over a divided land, and during the Civil War both Union and Confederate soldiers used the surrounding ground for staging, training, and battle. Here, former slaves sought the education that law had previously denied them. Storer College, founded in 1867 in an abandoned armory building, grew from a one-room schoolhouse into a typical college campus before closing in 1955. It was one of the first schools in the South open to African American students, and although it was chartered for all students regardless of race or gender, racial segregation laws prevented it from becoming an integrated campus.

Lovettsville, Maryland · United States