R.R. Moton High School
Encyclopedia
R. R. Moton High School was built in 1939 by Prince Edward County for Negro children, in the colonial-revival style common to school buildings in that era. It replaced several smaller one-room schools scattered around the County.
It had six classrooms and an office arranged around a central auditorium. It had no cafeteria or restrooms for teachers. Built to handle 180 students, already by the 1940s it struggled to hold 450; the County built long temporary buildings to house the overflow. Covered with roofing material, they were called the "tar-paper shacks." In 1953, a new county high school for Negroes was built, and R. R. Moton became an elementary school
. When the schools were closed in 1959, it housed a Free School sponsored by organizations form around the country. After schools reopened it continued to be used as an elementary school, until it was closed in 1993 after 56 years of service. At that time the Martha E. Forrester Council of Women launched a movement to preserve it as a memorial to the struggle for civil rights
in education. In 1998, R. R. Moton School was declared a National Historic Landmark
.
It is now a museum and study center, honoring the brave young women and men who challenged the leaders of Prince Edward County to give them equal educational opportunities. The museum features eyewitness accounts and exhibits that document the struggle to end racial segregation
in education.
What happened here?
On April 23, 1951, a group of Moton High School students walked out of their school and into history.
To protest the overcrowded and inferior facilities at their school, 16-year-old Barbara Johns (niece of civil rights pioneer Reverend Vernon Johns
) organized and led a two-week strike, during which students refused to attend classes. The students called upon lawyers from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP), including Oliver W. Hill
, to help them in their struggle for equal educational opportunities.
The NAACP agreed to take the Prince Edward case on the condition that students and their parents would sue to desegregate the schools, rather than just equalize them. Moton students and their parents agreed, and the case Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County
advanced to the Supreme Court, along with four other cases that challenged segregation in public education.
In May 1954, the Supreme Court would decide these five cases in Brown v. Board of Education
, which declared segregation in public education unconstitutional.
Although a constitutional victory had been won, implementation of the Brown decision involved decades of struggle. The state of Virginia imposed a policy of “massive resistance” that would effectively delay school desegregation until the 1960s.
In 1959, under federal court order to desegregate its schools, the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors voted not to fund the schools, causing them to close.
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.
Led by Rev. L. Francis Griffin of First Baptist Church, the locked-out students chose to demand their constitutional right to public education. It would be five years before public schools in Prince Edward County re-opened, after another Supreme Court ruling in Griffin v. County School Board, in 1964.
What is here now?
Today Moton School, a National Historic Landmark, stands as a stirring reminder of the struggle for Civil Rights in Education.
Yet 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. A 1994 New York Newsday
report commended Prince Edward County as the only area involved in the Brown decision to desegregate its schools successfully and peacefully.
The Robert Russa Moton Museum serves as a Center for the Study of Civil Rights in Education, providing programs to explore the history of desegregation in education and to promote dialogue about community relations.
The Moton Museum is also an anchor site of the Civil Rights in Education Heritage Trail. The trail contains 41 sites across southside Virginia which depict the broadening of educational opportunities.
The museum houses exhibits containing Moton High School memorabilia, artifacts of the Civil Rights Movement, and oral histories of former teachers and students who recall their experiences of the student walkout and the school closings. Docents are available to give guided tours of the museum.
It had six classrooms and an office arranged around a central auditorium. It had no cafeteria or restrooms for teachers. Built to handle 180 students, already by the 1940s it struggled to hold 450; the County built long temporary buildings to house the overflow. Covered with roofing material, they were called the "tar-paper shacks." In 1953, a new county high school for Negroes was built, and R. R. Moton became an elementary school
Primary education
A primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...
. When the schools were closed in 1959, it housed a Free School sponsored by organizations form around the country. After schools reopened it continued to be used as an elementary school, until it was closed in 1993 after 56 years of service. At that time the Martha E. Forrester Council of Women launched a movement to preserve it as a memorial to the struggle for civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
in education. In 1998, R. R. Moton School was declared a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
.
It is now a museum and study center, honoring the brave young women and men who challenged the leaders of Prince Edward County to give them equal educational opportunities. The museum features eyewitness accounts and exhibits that document the struggle to end racial segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
in education.
What happened here?
On April 23, 1951, a group of Moton High School students walked out of their school and into history.
To protest the overcrowded and inferior facilities at their school, 16-year-old Barbara Johns (niece of civil rights pioneer Reverend Vernon Johns
Vernon Johns
Vernon Johns was an American minister and civil rights leader who was active in the struggle for civil rights for African Americans from the 1920s....
) organized and led a two-week strike, during which students refused to attend classes. The students called upon lawyers from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
(NAACP), including Oliver W. Hill
Oliver Hill
Oliver White Hill, Sr. was a civil rights attorney from Richmond, Virginia. His work against racial discrimination helped end the doctrine of "separate but equal." He also helped win landmark legal decisions involving equality in pay for black teachers, access to school buses, voting rights, jury...
, to help them in their struggle for equal educational opportunities.
The NAACP agreed to take the Prince Edward case on the condition that students and their parents would sue to desegregate the schools, rather than just equalize them. Moton students and their parents agreed, and the case Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County
Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County
Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County was one of the five cases combined into Brown v. Board of Education, the famous case in which the U.S. Supreme Court, in 1954, officially overturned racial segregation in U.S. public schools...
advanced to the Supreme Court, along with four other cases that challenged segregation in public education.
In May 1954, the Supreme Court would decide these five cases in Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
, which declared segregation in public education unconstitutional.
Although a constitutional victory had been won, implementation of the Brown decision involved decades of struggle. The state of Virginia imposed a policy of “massive resistance” that would effectively delay school desegregation until the 1960s.
In 1959, under federal court order to desegregate its schools, the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors voted not to fund the schools, causing them to close.
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.
Led by Rev. L. Francis Griffin of First Baptist Church, the locked-out students chose to demand their constitutional right to public education. It would be five years before public schools in Prince Edward County re-opened, after another Supreme Court ruling in Griffin v. County School Board, in 1964.
What is here now?
Today Moton School, a National Historic Landmark, stands as a stirring reminder of the struggle for Civil Rights in Education.
Yet even more than a monument to the past, the Robert Russa Moton
Robert Russa Moton
Robert Russa Moton was an African American educator and author. He served as an administrator at Hampton Institute and was named principal of Tuskegee Institute in 1915 after the death of Dr. Booker T. Washington, a position he held for 20 years until retirement in 1935.-Youth, education,...
Museum stands as a monument to a community moving from a divided past into a common future. A 1994 New York Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
report commended Prince Edward County as the only area involved in the Brown decision to desegregate its schools successfully and peacefully.
The Robert Russa Moton Museum serves as a Center for the Study of Civil Rights in Education, providing programs to explore the history of desegregation in education and to promote dialogue about community relations.
The Moton Museum is also an anchor site of the Civil Rights in Education Heritage Trail. The trail contains 41 sites across southside Virginia which depict the broadening of educational opportunities.
The museum houses exhibits containing Moton High School memorabilia, artifacts of the Civil Rights Movement, and oral histories of former teachers and students who recall their experiences of the student walkout and the school closings. Docents are available to give guided tours of the museum.