Longwood students may be surprised to know that
they pass by a historical landmark every time
they take the Farmville Area Bus. The Robert Russa
Moton Museum, located just on the outskirts of
Longwood University, is a building described as "an
anchor site of the Civil Rights in Education Heritage
Trail … [containing] 41 sites across southside Virginia,
which depict the broadening of educational
opportunities," according to an informational brochure
available at the museum.
On Wednesday, Feb. 15 from 4-5 p.m., Delta
Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. sponsored a tour at the
Robert Russa Moton Museum to celebrate Black
History Month and plans to sponsor a second tour
on Wednesday, Feb. 22 at the same time. Open to
all guests free of charge, the event featured a film
and an informational tour through a building that
once stood as a segregated high school for African
Americans.
The film featured an iconic event that occurred at
what once was Moton High School when Barbara
Johns, 16, led her high school peers to protest the
poor conditions of the school on April 23, 1951.
Calling upon lawyers from the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP), the group of headstrong, determined
students were able to take the case, entitled Davis
v. County School Board of Prince Edward County,
to the Supreme Court, shifting efforts from simply
attempting to benefit their own school to aiming
to desegregate all of the schools in Prince Edward
County.
The group of high school students eventually
won the case in May 1954 through Brown v. Board
of Education, determining segregation as unconstitutional.
But the Massive Resistance of Virginia
schools, involving the shutting down of educational
facilities to prevent the integration of them, caused
a delay of desegregation until the 1960s.
Dramatically affecting the Prince Edward County
residents, "The school closings dramatically affected
lives. Teachers lost their jobs. Families sent
their children away to attend school. Many children
simply did not go to school," stated in the informational
brochure.
It would take until 1964 in Griffin v. County School
Board to ratify the re-opening of public schools in
Prince Edward County. The brochure stated, "Even
more than a monument to the past, the Robert Russa
Moton Museum stands as a monument to a community
moving from a divided past into a common
future."
The brochure added that a 1994 issue of New York
Newsday cited Prince Edward County as the sole
area that desegregated its schools "successfully and
peacefully" during the time of the Brown decision.
The film featuring Barbara Johns' Moton High
School student uprising featured students from
the Longwood University Theatre Department and
contained testimonials from those who had directly
experienced the events.
The statements within the film included, "We will
no longer suffer in silence," and "Let our action be
a symbol for others;" messages of empowerment,
courage and camaraderie.
Sherries Campbell, vice president and program
coordinator of Delta Sigma Theta, Inc., organized
the event along with President Nellie Pryor and
Treasurer Ericka Godwin. Campbell said the sorority
chooses an event every Wednesday under
their tradition "Black History Wednesday." She said
sponsoring the tour of the museum could help raise
local awareness of the institution.
Campbell said the most notable aspect of the film
featured was "the fact that it was a 16-year-old that
led it all. I think a lot of things that she was saying,
like just because we're kids … doesn't mean we
can't be leaders, either. So, it just put things in perspective
as college students … We're not as wise as
older people, but we still can do a lot of things and
be part of the change."
Roberta Collier, president of the Black Student
Association and intern at the Robert Russa Moton
Museum, said, "As an African-American student, I
take my education very seriously, and to be in a site
where my education was fought for and the site that
gave me the ability to have that education, that's a
very big and monumental type of thing."
Collier hoped the students of Longwood who attended
learned "no idea is minor and if you have a
really good idea and a good driving force behind it,
you can accomplish anything."
If interested in learning more about the Robert
Russa Moton Museum, go online to www.motonmuseum.
org or call (434) 315-8775. The Robert Russa
Moton Museum has free admission and is open
to the public Tuesday through Saturday with varying
times with tours available five days a week.
The museum is located on 900 Griffin Boulevard
at South Main Street. Learn about your Farmville
community and how it shaped the nation's Civil
Rights Revolution.
