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The West Virginia Encyclopedia
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The West Virginia Encyclopedia
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.
Written by Jerry Bruce Thomas
Thomas, Jerry Bruce. An Appalachian New Deal: West Virginia in the Great Depression. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1998.
Withrow, Dolly. From the Grove to the Stars: West Virginia State College 1891-1991. Charleston: Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, 1991.
Happy Negro Children Enjoy Life at State Camp. Charleston Gazette, August 11, 1935.