IHS students learn about Black History museum

With Black History Month now under way, students at Ironton High School had a visit on Thursday to a Tri-State institution dedicated to the topic.

Staff from the C. B. Nuckolls Community Center & Black History Museum addressed students in the school’s auditorium, speaking about the history of the museum, as well as some of their own stories.

Darrell Smith, co-founder of the museum, said it “started as a dream.”

He said, in 2020, during the COVID-19 shutdowns, he began a page online, dedicated to Black history in Ashland.

“I didn’t see much promoting Black people,” he said. “And we were losing a lot of Black history.”

Smith said, as elders died, photos were being thrown out and items were being given away.

Smith’s page eventually led to the museum, which opened in 2023, on Kilgore Drive in Ashland.

While it has an Ashland focus, he said they have incorporated Ironton, Burlington, Huntington and the Tri-State.

The museum is named for and dedicated to the memory of C.B. Nuckolls, who served as principal of Booker T. Washington, Ashland’s school for Black students, from 1922-1962.

One of those students who attended the school was Bernice Henry, Smith’s aunt and co-founder of the museum.

Henry said she began her education in the black school, but graduated after schools were integrated in the city.

Students asked her what that experience was like.

She compared it to leaving your home in the morning, “where everyone loves you,” and not knowing what to expect in the new environment.

Henry said, overall, she had a good experience in both schools, but at times, the new school could be “frightening.”

Smith said the Booker T. Washington School, which stood downtown on Central Avenue, on the lot of what is now the city’s pool. 

He said the school burned in 1975 and its contents were lost. He said all items they have regarding it have been donated by former students and faculty.

Henry promised the students, if they come to the museum, they “will not be bored.”

She said the experience of having visitors is an interactive experience for staff.

“We don’t know who ends up learning the most — us or them,” she said. “And it is so important with us that we share our experiences.”