After the Civil War, many freed slaves in the Red Oak area of Charlotte County were welcomed to worship at Antioch Baptist Church, and the Antioch congregation helped raise money to build Salem Baptist Church in 1865 for their African American neighbors. Around 1900, the trustees of Salem Baptist Church deeded a half-acre of land to the Bacon District School Board to build a schoolhouse for African American students, and a one-room school was erected with support from the school board and the league of students' parents. After a 1921 survey of Virginia public schools emphasized the need to improve rural African American education, the original school building was abandoned and the current Salem School building was constructed on the site about 1924 at a cost of $4,500, paid with local funds and money from the Julius Rosenwald Fund. The new facility had three classrooms for grades 1-7, as well as a cafeteria, entrance hall, and cloakroom. The school remained in operation until 1959, when the property reverted to Salem Baptist Church. The church later deeded the property to the Salem School Preservation Committee, which operates it as a nonprofit community center. Salem School was placed on the Virginia Landmarks Register in 1998 and is occasionally used by Salem Baptist Church for gatherings.