LOCATION: In front of the school located at: (GPS 38.509784, -78.064652), 14096 Norman Rd, Culpeper, VA 22701

In 1929, African American residents near Norman formed the Norman School League to encourage the building of a local school for their students. They raised over $1,000 and Ewell and Josephine Tutt donated land to the Culpeper School Board to meet the requirements for additional funds from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation. Construction began in 1933. The lead carpenter, Tom Lynn Jones, was assisted by John Ford and Creed Dennis who donated much of their time for the Rosenwald designed school. Longtime educators at the school included Ruth Ford, Lillian Morris, and Bascom Dobbins. Due to the continued support by the Norman School League, the school was unsurpassed compared to other African American schools until it closed in 1965 when Culpeper schools began to be integrated.

Marker installed 2026

Reference Material

Virginia Star September 5, 1929, page 1.

By September 1929 The Norman School Community League had formed with the known members as Ruth H. Ford, Rev. John J. Jackson, Elizabeth Tutt, Josephine Tutt, Ewell Tutt, C.B. Coleman, and Charles H. Thompson. By September 1929 the League reported that $1,000 had been raised and another $500 would be obtained from the Rosenwald Fund. However, in order to obtain the Rosenwald funds it was necessary to build the school house according to Rosenwald specifications, which among other things, called for a school tract of at least two acres.

Virginia Star December 19, 1929, page 1.

On December 19, 1929 Ewell and Josephine Tutt deeded the trustees of the Culpeper County School Board two acres of land at Norman to be used as the location for the new school satisfying the Rosenwald funding requirements. 

The Original Flyer for the 1933 Dedication.

Norman’s Rosenwald School in the 1990s.