The John J. Wright Educational and Cultural Center Museum

The John J. Wright Educational and Cultural Center Museum

The John J. Wright Educational & Cultural Center Museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the African American History of Spotsylvania County, Virginia.

Our mission is to celebrate Spotsylvania by facilitating learning about the interactive history of education, culture, and civic life of Spotsylvania County’s African American citizens.

"Representatives from local African American churches organized the Spotsylvania Sunday School Union in 1905 to secure a secondary school for black children. The Union, led by educator John J. Wright, purchased 158.5 acres here in 1910 and later deeded 20 acres to the county. The Snell Training School, built by Alfred Fairchild, opened here in 1913 and was for decades the county’s only public high school for black students. Renamed for John J. Wright in 1940, it burned in 1941 and was rebuilt in 1952. The building became a middle school in 1968 after desegregation was completed. In 2008, after a major renovation, the building was designated the John J. Wright Educational and Cultural Center."