Founded in 1967 by Baptist preacher Jerry Falwell Sr. as a ministry of Thomas Road Baptist Church and a segregation academy, the school is recognized as an educational facility by the Commonwealth of Virginia through the Virginia State Board of Education,[2] Southern Association of Colleges and Schools,[3] and the Association of Christian Schools International.

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.

[7] Unlike many other segregation academies, the school became racially integrated two years after its opening.

In 1979, Falwell denounced this "intervention against Christian schools", which had become a policy of the Carter administration.