News Release

Free Black History Month Program Features Plaintiffs from Virginia Desegregation Case

Date: February 17, 2011

Release date: February 17, 2011
Contact: Justin Sochacki
Phone number: [phone]

Topeka, KS – On April 23, 1951, over 450 African American students, led by sixteen year old Barbara Johns, walked out of R.R. Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia. Protesting the dismal conditions of segregated schools, the student strike lasted two weeks and resulted in a lawsuit that would become one of the five cases heard by the U.S. Supreme Court as part of Brown v. Board of Education. In defiance of the court order to desegregate, Prince Edward County, Virginia closed its public school system for five years, leaving 1700 African American students without public education. Three plaintiffs from the Davis v. Prince Edward County case will share their experiences and memories of the 13 year struggle for equal education in a free public program at Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site at 3 p.m. on Sunday, February 27.

The free public program will begin with a screening of the documentary film, Farmville: An American Story. Following the screening, case plaintiffs Joy Speaks, John Watson, and Joan Johns Cobbs will speak about their involvement in the historic case and its effects on the local community. The participants will be joined by Dr. Terence Hicks for a panel discussion and question and answer session. Himself a graduate of Prince Edward County High School, Dr. Hicks is also an associate professor of research in the Department of Educational Leadership at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina. He is co-editor of The Educational Lockout of African Americans in Prince Edward County, Virginia (1959-1964). Books will be for sale and available for signing by program participants immediately following the program. To RSVP by February 25, please e-mail the Brown Foundation by clicking here or call [phone].

Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County is unique among the five lawsuits heard by the U.S. Supreme Court as part of Brown v. Board of Education. The case was the only one initiated by students. The struggle for equal education in Prince Edward County unfolded over thirteen years: from the student walkout in 1951, to the landmark Brown decision declaring segregation unconstitutional in 1954, to Prince Edward County's five year school closure beginning in 1959, to the re-opening of the public school system in 1964. The closure of the county's schools was part of the South's "Massive Resistance" to court ordered desegregation and drew attention from across the nation. In a speech commemorating the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1963, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy eloquently stated, "We may observe with much sadness and irony that, outside of Africa, south of the Sahara, where education is still a difficult challenge, the only places on earth not to provide free public education are Communist China, North Vietnam, Sarawak, Singapore, British Honduras and Prince Edward County, Virginia. Something must be done about Prince Edward County."

This program is co-sponsored by Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site and the Brown Foundation for Educational Equity, Excellence, and Research and is part of the 2010-2011 program series titled Commemorating Our Nation's Struggle for Freedom: From Civil War to Civil Rights. For a list of all events and exhibits in the annual program series, please visit www.nps.gov/brvb and click on the Special Events link.

Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site tells the story of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended legal segregation in public schools. The site is located at 1515 SE Monroe Street in Topeka, Kansas, and is open free of charge from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, with the exceptions of Thanksgiving, December 25, and January 1. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/brvb or call [phone].