Located near the unincorporated community of Sutherland in rural Dinwiddie County, Rocky Branch School served as a public schoolhouse for African American children between 1913 and 1963, during the era of racial segregation in Virginia. Originally built as a one-room, one-teacher schoolhouse for Black children from all elementary grades, the one-story frame building was expanded in 1928 when patrons from nearby Rocky Branch Church obtained a section of the former Sutherland School – originally constructed for White children – from the Dinwiddie County School Board. Following the addition of the second classroom, the school employed two full-time teachers and housed students in the first through seventh grades. Rocky Branch continued as a public school with virtually no alterations or renovations until its closure in 1963, when its students were reassigned to a newly constructed, segregated elementary school. Today, the building retains many of the character-defining features of an early 20th century, rural school for African American students in Virginia, with its vernacular materials and workmanship further adding to its study value. Rocky Branch School is nominated under the African American Schools in Virginia MPD.