Stemming from the French ecole normale, the “Normal” School strove to set high standards for the training of women teachers for primary and secondary education. Printed supplements to the Virginia Teacher, a monthly pedagogy periodical printed in Harrisonburg, contained a general description of the Virginia Normal School System and its mission, which emphasized the Normal as a white, southern institution. Harrisonburg was typically promoted as a desirable location precisely because of its predominantly white population and adherence to traditional southern values.
“The State of Virginia operates four institutions for the exclusive training of white women for the profession of teaching.
“Harrisonburg claims every advantage of location, accessibility, water and sewerage, electric light, mail and telephone facilities, and proximity to white population. It enjoys a combination of healthful environment, sanitary comforts, and a wholesome social and religious atmosphere. “This section has not been affected by the great industrial development of the present, which has brought such large numbers of outsiders to some of our cities and counties. It is still Virginian in ideals and manner of living. The people are thrifty and law-abiding, and there is no admixture of foreigners and a very small number of others than native whites.” (The Normal Bulletin, May 1918)
Lee Society with honorary member Dr. John W. Wayland, Schoolma’am 1921
Lanier Society, Schoolma’am 1919
Following in the footsteps of organizations like the United Daughters of the Confederacy, students and faculty at the Normal consciously depicted the Confederacy and antebellum plantation society in a highly idealized manner. This representation of the Old South was thoroughly white supremacist and purposefully glossed over the brutal realities of slavery and the economic tensions brought on by the Civil War. Emblematic of the Normal’s Southern pride was the two literary societies established at the school’s opening in 1909. Named after former Commander of the Confederate States Army Robert E. Lee, the Lee society honored the legacy of their organization’s namesake and proved one of the most popular extracurricular clubs on the campus. The Lanier Literary Society took its name from Southern poet and former Confederate soldier Sidney Lanier. Both groups hosted debates, sponsored public readings on literary, historical, and biographical topics, and featured musical performances. Event posters often featured Confederate regalia and idealized depictions of plantation life. Both literary societies remained campus staples until they were discontinued in 1942.
Lee Society Poster
Lanier Poster
Southern pride was also cultivated by field trips to local Confederate monuments, particularly the New Market battlefield and Turner Ashby monument near Harrisonburg. Dr. Wayland encouraged and organized these student field trips. The father of Annie Cleveland, an English instructor at the Normal until her death in 1916, fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War, and a written account in the Wayland papers notes he “followed Marse Robert.” Incidentally, the entire faculty and student body attended a screening of D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation on October 21, 1916 at what was then the New Virginia Theater in downtown Harrisonburg.
Wayland and students at New Market battlefield, ca. 1910
Commencement program from 1912 listing the lyrics for “Blue-Stone Hill” and “Shendo Land”
Though the school’s official alma mater at this time was “Blue-Stone Hill,” evidence suggests that “Shendo Land,” an unofficial alternative, was more popular. Both songs were written by Dr. Wayland. “Shendo Land” was set to the melody of “Dixie” and utilized racist dialect.