Prince Edward County residents and officials affected by the struggle to attain education equality spoke about their experiences during several commemorations held in Prince Edward concerning education in Virginia and in the United States.

The Prince Edward Chapter of the NAACP and the Robert Russa Moton Museum held a series of events to commemorate the 65th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, which deemed segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional, the 60th Anniversary of the closing of Prince Edward public schools, and the 55th Anniversary of Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward, which determined the closure of schools in Prince Edward to be unconstitutional and led to public schools in the county reopening.

And still we rise

The Rev. J. Samuel Williams, minister and one of the students of Robert Russa Moton High School who participated in the walkout of 1951 to protest education inequality, spoke about his experience and the way that racism has and continues to persist in society. His voice carried through the sanctuary of First Baptist Church in Farmville, where Martin Luther King Jr. visited in 1962.

Williams spoke about the first African people brought to Virginia against their will for slavery and about how slavery was a factor in the Civil War.

Segregation continued legally into the mid to late 1900s, when Williams first began high school.

Though public schools in Prince Edward reopened in the 1960s, the trend in which white officials remain in power continues into the present day, in public schools, the media and local government.

He spoke about resilience of black residents of Prince Edward, quoting the poetry of Maya Angelou, “And Still I Rise.”

NAACP President James Ghee, presenting after Williams, praised Leigh District Supervisor Jerry Townsend, Farmville Vice Mayor A.D. “Chuckie” Reid and Prince Edward Commonwealth’s Attorney Megan Clark for their positions of leadership and its importance in light of the county’s history.

Always remember

Joy Cabarrus Speakes, Bertha Early Shepperson and Floyd Bland, three of the plaintiffs in the case Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward, the only student-led case in Brown v. Board of Education, spoke about their experience attending Robert Russa High School in 1951 at the time of the walkout.

Clark was the panel moderator. Clark said she read the case prior to the panel, coming away with frustration about the situation and how the students and families involved in the case were treated, and admiration for Prince Edward residents who fought for educational rights.

Speakes described the conditions of the school, that a building meant to fit 180 people was trying to adjust for 400, having lunch on school buses, a tar paper shack to the side of the building that was cold in winter and hot in summer.

Clark asked what, after all these years, made the panelelists return to Prince Edward and what was their impression of the county now versus 1951.

Speakes said she returned to Prince Edward in 2007 and said she saw a change in how the county operated in 2007 versus when she left Prince Edward.

Shepperson said she returned in 1963, the year that the Free School Association was holding classes by those affected by the school closures, but the public schools in Prince Edward hadn’t yet opened.

Bland said he did notice a change, returning to the county in the 1970s.

Addressing Prince Edward Academy, the private school that was built for white students where Fuqua School is currently located, Speakes said that she has seen classes and trips that Fuqua and Prince Edward County Public Schools students have taken to the Moton Museum, to learn about the school closures, and said she has seen young people learning about what took place in the county.

Addressing the mindset that people affected by the school closure should get over it, Clark said that belief shows how little people understand what took place and how the impact of the closures continue to affect residents in the county.

“It’s always going to be there,” Speakes said.

Advocates in court

Dr. Larissa Smith Fergeson, professor of history at Longwood University, presented on massive resistance in the mid-1900s and the significant actions by the NAACP to combat racism on the local and state level. The NAACP, Fergeson said, placed accountability on Virginia lawmakers at that time by challenging segregation and systemic racism through court cases. Members and attorneys representing the NAACP continued even after retaliation came in the form of court cases against the NAACP.

Close community

Robert Hamlin’s promise to his mother was he would finish high school. He was going into the 12th grade, having only one year left of school, when he realized public schools in Prince Edward, the high school he would attend, was closed.

Eggleston said he would have gone into the third grade when schools closed. He had perfect attendance. His father prompted Eggleston to excel in schoolwork.

Elsie R. Walker was in middle school when schools closed.

Berryman said at the time schools closed, he would speak to his cousin, who lived in Maryland. He said he realized he may fall behind his cousin.

Walker, Hamlin, Berryman and Eggleston spoke during a panel about those affected by the closing of Prince Edward public schools. The panel was moderated by Moton Museum Managing Director Cameron Patterson and Moton Museum Director of Education & Public Programs Cainan Townsend.

Walker and Berryman participated in numerous demonstrations in response to the school closures. Walker attended the March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his address, “I Have a Dream.”

Hamlin spoke about learning self-sufficiency over his life. He graduated from high school and attended Kittrel College, a historically-black college located in North Carolina. He joined the Air Force and managed emergency rooms and served as a medic.

Eggleston attended college and currently operates two funeral homes in the area.

Voices of generations

Rita Odom Moseley spoke during the panel with her son, Frank Moseley II. They participated in a panel Saturday morning with Vincent Eanes and his son, and Melvin Nunnally and his daughter.

“I think that it went very well. The decision to have the parents and the children was an excellent addition to the program,” Moseley said.

“I was really spellbound by my son, the way that he expressed the importance of an education, and also the effects of the schools closing,” Moseley said, noting that he spoke about how it affected his generation and generations after him.

His words, she said, was one of the proudest moments of her life.

She hoped people understood how difficult the school closure was on the children and the parents affected.

“I think that’s something that people don’t realize,” Moseley said, about how the school closure affected parents who were faced with few options for providing education for their children.

She said the impact on families was multigenerational and continues into the present day.

“It didn’t just stop after that happened to us,” Moseley said. She was one of the students affected by the school closures. Her parents sent her away to continue her education.

“My parents made a sacrifice that a lot of parents would not even consider,” Moseley said. “I can’t imagine how much her heart must have ached to have done that and just not look back.”