Born in Kingstree, S.C., in 1898, Lithornia McFarlin Gibbes was the daughter of William Langdon Gibbes, a pastor and educator. She graduated from Benedict College in Columbia, S.C., in 1920 before relocating to Virginia, where she initially worked with the YWCA and collaborated with Hollins College to assist and improve educational and social conditions for African American communities.
In 1923 she was hired by Botetourt County’s Jeanes Supervisor, a position dedicated to supporting and improving Black schools during the era of segregation. In this role, she worked directly with teachers, families and the local school board to strengthen curriculum, improve attendance and expand educational opportunities.
One of her most significant accomplishments was helping to organize and support the development of four Rosenwald Schools in Botetourt County between 1917 and 1926 – in Indian Rock, Hollins, Buchanan and Eagle Rock. These schools were built through partnerships between the Rosenwald Fund, local Black communities, white residents and the county school district. Together, they represent over $25,000 invested in African American education at a time when public funding was deeply unequal.
Beyond buildings, Ms. Gibbes believed in holistic education. She emphasized literacy, ethnics, art, music, and manual training – encouraging students to develop both academic skills and character. She later helped establish the Botetourt County Wide League, which successfully advocated for improved facilities and eventually for the construction of consolidated schools serving African American students.
Ms. Gibbes and the County Wide League were instrumental in working with the Botetourt County School Board to allocate funds for the construction of Academy Hill and later Central Academy.
Ms. Gibbes and her husband, Dr. Stellman Gibbes met while students at Benedict College. He attended Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., before joining his wife in Virginia, settling in Clifton Forge. Dr. Gibbes served as a town doctor and the family was active in their local church.
She dedicated more than four decades of her life to the children of Botetourt County, retiring in 1966 after helping guide the community through desegregation and consolidation. Ms. Gibbes chose not to teach in the newly desegregated school system, instead returning to her hometown of Kingstree, S.C., and teaching in the still segregated Williamsburg County Schools.
Lithornia McFarlin Gibbes reminds us that Black educational history is a story not only of resilience – but of organization, strategy, partnership and unwavering commitment to children. Her legacy lives on in every school she helped build and every student she inspired.
This was written by Kate Blanton and is part of her dissertation on African American educational equity and desegregation of Botetourt County. She provided the photograph and shared this with the Botetourt Museum of History & Culture in Fincastle.
