Architecture is a pathway to capture memories in the physical presence. Like a charm bracelet, a path leads you through individual segments, each telling their own stories. "Community Narratives for Architecture Spaces" investigates how to choreograph design strategies around the memories of the Christiansburg Institute, a historically African American school, and its cultural legacy. Materiality, lighting, and programming articulate specific memories within the spaces of this project. It is essential to have moments highlighting the past, present, and future while individuals maneuver through the site. There is a life cycle where things must end, and new opportunities can grow from them. This cycle can be beautiful yet ugly to navigate through. Architecture highlights the essence of this cycle by portraying how beginnings can be born from the old. An old site can be transformed into a new one, creating new memories and perspectives while preserving existing ones. Christiansburg Institute encompasses all of these beliefs. This design proposal honors the life cycle of the institute. / Master of Architecture / Historically African American school in Southwest Virginia for approximately 100 years. At its prime, it reached over 185 acres with over 14 buildings. It now stands with less than five acres and only one surviving building. This thesis is a design proposal to rejuvenate the current site in honor of its legacy and contributions bestowed to the African American community. Ethnographic storytelling documents the cultural identity of a group of people or a specific experience. Historically, storytelling has documented the history of African American communities. To directly honor the alumni of the site, I interviewed four individuals to discuss their memories of the school's spiritual and physical presence. Their stories will remain documented and help understand the Christiansburg Institute's space and its legacy. These recollections of memory were analyzed and dissected to influence the new design proposal. As an emerging designer, the relationship between social narratives, the role of an architect, and creating community space are imperative. Community members should have a voice in how the design process shapes their neighborhoods and buildings. Community Narratives for Architecture Space; Christiansburg Institute uses Christiansburg Institute as a case study to further explore the process of engaging the community with schematic development procedures. Ideally, these actions will influence future design and planning strategies to be more intentional and inclusive.

This project examines the activism of Black parents, students, and citizens who fought to obtain school equality and desegregation from the 1920s until the 1960s in southwest Virginia and consequently the resistance from White residents and officials. Resistance to the status quo of inequality between Black and White schools in Pulaski County, Virginia began as early as the 1920s. This activism continued through the 1930s and 1940s, with it finally leading NAACP attorneys Oliver Hill and Spottswood Robinson collaborating with Pulaski citizens in 1948 to file a discrimination lawsuit in the case Corbin v. School Board of Pulaski County. The activism did not end here as once the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated schools were unconstitutional, Black residents in southwest Virginia localities such as Floyd, Galax, Grayson, and Pulaski worked together with NAACP attorney Reuben Lawson to file multiple lawsuits so Black students could attend White schools. Many of these lawsuits faced staunch resistance from White residents of these localities, even with the threat of closing schools due to Virginia's policy of Massive Resistance. I argue that looking at localities such as Pulaski, Floyd, Galax, and Grayson helps situate southwest Virginia into the larger context of Virginia history in terms of examining resistance, fighting for equality, and pushing desegregation in the area during the middle of the twentieth century. Black citizens in the western part of Virginia faced resistance from the White citizens, but they persevered with their activism in the courts and hometowns which ultimately contributed to the dismantling of segregated schools in Virginia. They pushed for equality within segregation and then for desegregation in the middle decades of the twentieth century. Examining the historiography of school equality and desegregation in Virginia demonstrates that there is an overgeneralization about the resistance which occurred in the western half of the state. Historians argue that the eastern part of the state saw more modes of resistance, especially Massive Resistance, due to the higher population of Black residents. On the other hand, they ignore the western part as they believe the same resistance did not occur due to a lower population of Black residents. I reject these notions as Massive Resistance found its way into southwest Virginia through either the threat of or action of closing schools. I have dug more deeply into the sources, such as trial transcripts, legal correspondence, school board records, petitions, court cases, testimony, newspapers, and oral histories to understand the avenues Black residents in southwest Virginia used to fight inequality and segregation. / Master of Arts / This project examines the activism of Black parents, students, and citizens who fought to obtain school equality and desegregation from the 1920s until the 1960s in southwest Virginia and consequently the resistance from White residents and officials. Resistance to the status quo of inequality between Black and White schools in Pulaski County, Virginia began as early as the 1920s. This activism continued through the 1930s and 1940s, with it finally leading NAACP attorneys Oliver Hill and Spottswood Robinson collaborating with Pulaski citizens in 1948 to file a discrimination lawsuit in the case Corbin v. School Board of Pulaski County. The activism did not end here as once the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated schools were unconstitutional, Black residents in southwest Virginia localities such as Floyd, Galax, Grayson, and Pulaski worked together with NAACP attorney Reuben Lawson to file multiple lawsuits so Black students could attend White schools. Many of these lawsuits faced staunch resistance from White residents of these localities, even with the threat of closing schools due to Virginia's policy of Massive Resistance. I argue that looking at localities such as Pulaski, Floyd, Galax, and Grayson helps situate southwest Virginia into the larger context of Virginia history in terms of examining resistance, fighting for equality, and pushing desegregation in the area during the middle of the twentieth century. Black citizens in the western part of Virginia faced resistance from the White citizens, but they persevered with their activism in the courts and hometowns which ultimately contributed to the dismantling of segregated schools in Virginia. They pushed for equality within segregation and then for desegregation in the middle decades of the twentieth century.