During the 1950s and 1960s, Falwell spoke and campaigned against civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. and the desegregation of public school systems by the U.S. federal government.[5][6] In 1966, he led the effort to create "a private school for white students," the Lynchburg News reported. Named Lynchburg Christian Academy, the school opened in 1967 as a segregation academy.[5][6] Falwell developed it as a ministry of his Thomas Road Baptist Church.[7]
Unlike many other segregation academies, the school became racially integrated two years after its opening.[5] Historian Seth Dowland said that school officials later sought to market the school to parents who were not solely motivated by a desire to keep their children out of racially integrated public schools.[8]
In 1975, the Ford administration began trying to deny segregation academies their tax-exempt status on the basis that they perpetuated segregation. In 1979, Falwell denounced this "intervention against Christian schools", which had become a policy of the Carter administration.[9]
In 2005, the Lynchburg Christian Academy was moved next to Liberty University and renamed Liberty Christian Academy.[10]
Athletics
The LCA football team compiled an 85–6 record, winning four state championships and eight conference championships, between 2004, when Frank Rocco become the head coach, and 2013.[11] Among the team's former members are Rashad Jennings[12] and Bobby Massie.
