Longwood University Digital Commons @ Longwood University Prince Edward Histories Library, Special Collections, and Archives Spring 2016 Their Voices: Our History Moton Museum Longwood University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.longwood.edu/princeedwardhist Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Moton Museum and Longwood University, "Their Voices: Our History" (2016). Prince Edward Histories. 2. https://digitalcommons.longwood.edu/princeedwardhist/2 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Library, Special Collections, and Archives at Digital Commons @ Longwood University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Prince Edward Histories by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Longwood University. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. StoryTellers Magazine Moton Museum – Longwood University students, Joint Venture Free Spring 2016 | Vol. 2, Ed. 2 Farmville, Virginia Longwood University students – Moton Museum, Collaboration A Complimentary Publication Spring 2016 Vol. 2 Their Voices, Our History Stories of Prince Edward County, Virginia Pictured is a view of downtown Farmville, Va., circa 1960s, from the Robert Russa Moton Museum, a National Historic Landmark for civil rights in education. Original photo appears in the museum courtesy of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Photo by Carson Reeher. 1 Their Voices, Our History Stories of Prince Edward County, Virginia Pictured is a view of downtown Farmville, Va., circa 1960s, from the Robert Russa Moton Museum, a National Historic Landmark for civil rights in education. Original photo appears in the museum courtesy of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Photo by Carson Reeher. 1 This publication features individuals engaged in the civil rights struggle over send their children outside the county so they could continue their education – a costly endeavor equal education in Prince Edward County, Virginia, from 1959 – 1969. Today, the both financially and emotionally. Many were unable to move. These families had to find other Robert Russa Moton Museum chronicles the stories of how Prince Edward citizens ways, such as schooling at home, to educate their children. Throughout Prince Edward, women moved their community and America from a segregated to a more integrated society. In founded grassroots schools and training centers in churches to try to keep the children educated. collaboration with the museum, these individuals partnered with Longwood University students In July 1963, twelve years after the Moton High School walkout, young people again in an advanced writing seminar and in a photography course to document the stories. Through organized protests, this time in downtown Farmville. Inspired by the civil rights movement this publication, we aspire to open new histories of this time period, histories that we all should sweeping the South, Prince Edward students demanded the reopening of the schools, as well as hear and know. an end to the discrimination and segregation they endured in public places. Young people’s activism is at the heart of this history. On April 23, 1951, sixteen-year-old The school closings crisis drew national attention from civil rights activists and the federal Barbara Johns and her fellow students at Robert Russa Moton High School walked out, protesting government. The U.S. Department of Justice worked with Virginia state officials to organize the the inadequate and overcrowded facilities they faced. The strike lasted ten days. Their action Prince Edward Free School Association. On September 16, 1963, the Free Schools opened to all resulted in a court case, Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, which demanded an end children, regardless of race. They held classes in four of the closed public school buildings and to discrimination and challenged the constitutionality of segregation. provided students with a temporary opportunity to recommence their education. In Griffin v. County The U.S. Supreme Court bundled Davis together with four other cases in its 1954 landmark School Board of Prince Edward County, decided on May 25, 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the decision Brown v. Board of Education, declaring segregation in education unconstitutional. A year school closings a violation of Prince Edward children’s constitutional rights and ordered the county to later, in the Brown II decision, the court ruled that school desegregation should occur “with all fund the schools. deliberate speed” and sent the cases back to the federal district courts for implementation. When Prince Edward County public schools reopened in the fall 1964 on an integrated basis, It took four years for the courts to order the county to desegregate its schools in September this was the first time nearly 1,500 students attended public school in five years. These students 1959. In defiance, the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors refused to fund the public continued to be challenged with the legacy of the school closings, as the Board of Supervisors schools, effectively closing them. An estimated 3,300 children were affected. The community provided only the most minimal of funding to continue the operation of the schools. Parents, again took to the courts to settle the constitutional question of whether a county could refuse to teachers, and students worked to rebuild a functioning public school system. By 1969, students’ fund public education. anger and frustration boiled over, launching another student strike. The school closings set citizens in motion. Almost all students faced disruption of some These stories resonate with action and with movement – in stark contrast to how the history kind. In September 1959, the private Prince Edward Academy opened on a segregated basis in of this period has traditionally been told. Many citizens mobilized in educated and creative ways buildings in Farmville and churches around the county. Tuition at the school eventually increased, to enact their right to equal schooling and distribution of information. We hope this publication making some families unable to afford to send their children. Other families decided to move or encourages other individuals to share their stories. – April 2016 2 3 This publication features individuals engaged in the civil rights struggle over send their children outside the county so they could continue their education – a costly endeavor equal education in Prince Edward County, Virginia, from 1959 – 1969. Today, the both financially and emotionally. Many were unable to move. These families had to find other Robert Russa Moton Museum chronicles the stories of how Prince Edward citizens ways, such as schooling at home, to educate their children. Throughout Prince Edward, women moved their community and America from a segregated to a more integrated society. In founded grassroots schools and training centers in churches to try to keep the children educated. collaboration with the museum, these individuals partnered with Longwood University students In July 1963, twelve years after the Moton High School walkout, young people again in an advanced writing seminar and in a photography course to document the stories. Through organized protests, this time in downtown Farmville. Inspired by the civil rights movement this publication, we aspire to open new histories of this time period, histories that we all should sweeping the South, Prince Edward students demanded the reopening of the schools, as well as hear and know. an end to the discrimination and segregation they endured in public places. Young people’s activism is at the heart of this history. On April 23, 1951, sixteen-year-old The school closings crisis drew national attention from civil rights activists and the federal Barbara Johns and her fellow students at Robert Russa Moton High School walked out, protesting government. The U.S. Department of Justice worked with Virginia state officials to organize the the inadequate and overcrowded facilities they faced. The strike lasted ten days. Their action Prince Edward Free School Association. On September 16, 1963, the Free Schools opened to all resulted in a court case, Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, which demanded an end children, regardless of race. They held classes in four of the closed public school buildings and to discrimination and challenged the constitutionality of segregation. provided students with a temporary opportunity to recommence their education. In Griffin v. County The U.S. Supreme Court bundled Davis together with four other cases in its 1954 landmark School Board of Prince Edward County, decided on May 25, 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the decision Brown v. Board of Education, declaring segregation in education unconstitutional. A year school closings a violation of Prince Edward children’s constitutional rights and ordered the county to later, in the Brown II decision, the court ruled that school desegregation should occur “with all fund the schools. deliberate speed” and sent the cases back to the federal district courts for implementation. When Prince Edward County public schools reopened in the fall 1964 on an integrated basis, It took four years for the courts to order the county to desegregate its schools in September this was the first time nearly 1,500 students attended public school in five years. These students 1959. In defiance, the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors refused to fund the public continued to be