e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia Online

In 1935, the state Department of Public Welfare established Camp Brock on the campus of West Virginia State College at Institute. Camp Brock was part of a system of camps intended to rescue children of families affected most severely by the Great Depression. The camps were segregated by race. Named for George D. Brock, a professor at the college who pioneered in health education for African-Americans, Camp Brock's purpose was to feed and strengthen more than 400 children from Black families hardest hit by the Great Depression. The department proposed to build a permanent camp for African-American children in Fayette County similar to Camp Fairchance for White children. In 1937, the legislature approved a permanent facility, later named Camp Washington-Carver, but it was to be a 4-H camp, rather than a child welfare camp, and it was to be administered by West Virginia State College.

— Authored by Jerry Bruce Thomas

Sources

Thomas, Jerry Bruce. An Appalachian New Deal: West Virginia in the Great Depression. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1998.

"Happy Negro Children Enjoy Life at State Camp." Charleston Gazette, August 11, 1935.

Withrow, Dolly. From the Grove to the Stars: West Virginia State College 1891-1991. Charleston: Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, 1991.

Cite This Article

Thomas, Jerry Bruce. "Camp Brock." e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 24 April 2024. Web. Accessed: 24 December 2024.

24 Apr 2024