Talk:Staunton Military Academy

Military academies and the Civil Rights Act

I attended Staunton Military Academy in my sophomore and junior years, 1963-65. During that time, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which mandated racial integration in federally-funded programs. SMA's trustees subsequently voted against compliance. As I recall, their decision was based on the school's charter, which included a provision that "no Negro boy" shall ever be permitted to enroll. As a consequence, the school gave up its Junior ROTC affiliation. It was this, in combination with the societal changes of the 1960s, that led to SMA's demise. For example, many other Virginia military schools, including Fishburne, Fork Union, Massanutten, and Randolph-Macon, complied with the federal law, retained their JROTC status, and are still operating today.

One exception was Augusta Military Academy. AMA admitted its first black students following the enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and remained a JROTC affiliate. Despite this, the school struggled over the next decade and became a non-profit organization in 1977. AMA finally closed in December 1983. An interesting account of the events surrounding these developments, including several references to SMA's closing, can be found at the AMA Alumni Association's site (http://www.amaalumni.org/history_1.htm).Allreet 23:59, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure how to incorporate this into the SMA article, but it is a notable facet to be considered when a subsection on the school's last years is written. Thank you for sharing this. --Oddharmonic 02:31, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for your kind reply. A couple suggestions for research. While the school's records are probably lost to time, the Kabelgram newsletter in May or so of 1964 carried a lead article on the school's refusal to follow the Articles of Compliance. That edition and other issues of the Kabelgram would be invaluable. The alumni association would probably be the best place to start. But I came across an even better source. Col. Robert Wease, who taught Government at SMA from the late 50s through the school's closing, is still on the faculty at Fishburne Military School! There is no email address listed for him, but his telephone number is 540-946-7767. Col. Wease, by the way, was a brilliant teacher, and if he'd be willing, I'm sure he'd have a wealth of information to offer.Allreet 23:22, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

History of SMA Is Incorrect

A new editor (SMA70) added the following to the start of the History section in apparent good faith:

The History of the Staunton Military Academy has been recently researched and rewritten. Please go the the SMAAA website at http://www.sma-alumni.org/ and click on the "School History" Tab to view the rewritten history. The history given below has been shown to be incorrect.

I haven't checked the link provided but believe that the alumni history may very well be more accurate than the Wikipedia account. Nonetheless, I removed the new material since such notes do not belong in the main body of an article. Better would be to use and cite the alumni material, which I believe would be a legitimate source. Allreet (talk) 22:33, 29 November 2010 (UTC)

In the time since I wrote the above, the historical work begun by the SMA Alumni Foundation was expanded to become the SMA History Project. The project, led by historian Gregory Robertson, has corrected the "official" history to establish a new founding year. Instead of 1860, the school actually started in 1884. I know many will question this - I did - so I looked up Capt. Kable's background. It turns out he enrolled at U.Va. in 1858 when he was around 21 and left in 1860 to begin teaching. The next year Kable enlisted in the Virginia Militia and after the war resumed his studies at U.Va., receiving a Master of Arts in 1867. While he apparently contemplated starting a school in the late 1860s, Kable returned to his family's farm in West Virginia, married, and around the time he had his first son in 1872, was hired as principal at the Charlestown Academy (founded 1795). He did begin a school at the academy, but it wasn't until 1883 that he was able to start a school of his own at Staunton. If you read through the account in the Wikipedia article (as of today July 30, 2018), you can see where the stories intersect. Kable himself contributed to the confusion, at one point claiming 1872 as SMA's founding year. However, that was the year he began running the Charlestown Academy, which he clearly did not start. While other histories have adopted the academy's "official" acccount, clearly the 1860 date is a fiction, one apparently fueled by Kable's knack for promotion (for example, he was a sergeant in the Civil War, not a captain, though he did serve with distinction). Accordingly, I plan to update SMA's Wikipedia article, but I'll hold off to see if anyone chimes in. Allreet (talk) 05:27, 30 July 2018 (UTC)

Nobody chimed in so I did the update based largely on the SMA History Project. Now I need to dig up additional citations. Suggestions would be appreciated. Allreet (talk) 17:53, 9 August 2018 (UTC)