Historic Ashburn Schoolhouse Vandalized With Racist Messages

ASHBURN, VA — Volunteers working to renovate the historic Ashburn Colored School say they will "work even harder to complete the dream" after vandals covered the building in white-supremacist graffiti.

The one-room schoolhouse operated as a public school for African Americans from 1892 until the 1950s. Currently under renovation, the building was found vandalized early Saturday, Oct. 1.

Images of the vandalism shows swastikas, genitals and other vulgar images and comments.

A message at the Ashburn Old School Rehabilitation website reads: "While we are heartbroken about this senseless act, please know that our students, volunteers, and community will work even harder to complete the dream of renovating the Ashburn Colored School."

Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman called for the public's help to identify the vandals involved.

"The vandalism to the Old Ashburn School is reprehensible and will not be tolerated here in Loudoun County," said Sheriff Mike Chapman. "We will investigate all aspects of this case and will be working with our school resource officers to develop any leads."

Loudoun Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis J. Randall, elected last November as one of the county's first African-American board members, said in a statement Saturday that the community will rise above the incident.

"We will let our law enforcement do their jobs and complete the investigation and as a county we will send a message that this behavior is neither welcomed or tolerated in Loudoun," she said. "This is not Loudoun."

Anyone with any information can call Loudoun Crime Solvers at 703-777-1919. If the information provided to Crime Solvers leads to an arrest and indictment, the caller could be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1000.

Photo shared by Ashburn Old School Rehabilitation on Facebook