Local NAACP Recalls Segregated Criser High/Elementary School During ‘Learn From the Past for a Better Future’ Event

Royal Examiner was alerted to an event to be held on Sunday, April 12, 2026, sponsored by the Warren-Page Branch 7125B of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). The event began at 3:00 p.m. at the Mt. Vernon Baptist Church in Front Royal.

The program’s theme was “Learn From the Past for a Better Future.” It was originally scheduled for Black History Month in mid-February but was canceled due to inclement winter weather. This presentation was treated to a more clement Spring weather forecast, with no precipitation, a high of 75, and a low of 63 degrees.

Event graphic – Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

The event revolved around the history of Criser High/Elementary School, Warren County’s African American school that accommodated grades 1 to 12 during ongoing racial/educational segregation that survived into the 1950s and ’60s. Moderating the event was local NAACP chapter President Gene Kilby.

Event moderator Gene Kilby, President of the Warren-Page NAACP, opens the event. Below, Greg Williams addresses the projected graphic of educator Ressie Jeffries.

That Criser School phase of the program was presented by Greg Williams, who, it was noted, has conducted research on the school. Program sponsors added that, “During Mr. Williams’s oral presentation, historic photographs will be shown on the church’s projection screen to provide visual context.

The presentation was interactive, offering the audience opportunities to ask questions during and after the presentation. Two teachers from the school, Betty Roberts and Lillian Sloane, were acknowledged and reflected on their highly positive experiences with students and co-workers.

Former educators Betty Roberts, 2nd grade, and below, Lillian Sloane, home economics, take their turn in reflecting on the past with an eye toward the future.

Also featured were stirring musical accompaniments throughout the program provided by a stunning trio of vocalists from Cuzzin’s ‘N Praise Music Ministry with accompaniment by musicians Steve Whittington and Robert Skinner.

The sensational Cuzzins ‘N Praise Music Ministry vocal trio.

It was also noted that after the presentation, there would be “time for reflections from former teachers & students of the Criser School.” The program was designed to be both “informative and educational,” and one might add, nostalgic in a positive way, if against the negative backdrop of educational segregation.

The gathered crowd, many with direct experiences of racially-segregated education in this community, listen as moderator Gene Kilby invites them into the discussion following Greg Williams historical presentation on Criser School.

What better way to spend a Spring afternoon than in contemporary America, where a widening political gap appears to many to be based on ethnic, racial, and political stereotyping?

Let us all truly “Learn From the Past for a Better Future.”

The crowd was offered opportunities to join in musical support of ‘Learning From the Past for a Better Future’.

We later asked Gene Kilby about both his and Greg Williams educational experiences during this era. This is what he told us: “Both Greg and I attended the Colored School on Criser Rd in the first-grade year of 1958-1959. Greg attended Criser from the 2nd grade through the 9th grade (1959–1967) and Warren County High from the 10th grade through the 12th grade (1967–1970). I attended Criser from the 2nd grade through 5th grade (1959-1963), attended E. Wilson Morrison in the 6th and 7th grades (1963-1965), and Warren County High for the 8th through 12th grades (1965-1970). We both graduated from Warren County High in 1970.”

And here is a nod to the ending of racial educational segregation here and across the nation in the mid-to-late 1960s. However, it is a nod with a fond remembrance of both the educators and students who dealt with that cultural evolution as it occurred. And another nod of respect to those who endured that racial educational segregation before it was overturned in America. Bless them all.