Moton Museum

Robert Russa Moton High School (1963)

Moton Museum (2017)

Site Name: Moton Museum (formerly Moton High School)

Date of Construction: 1939

Reason for Construction: Built in the era of segregation, Robert Russa Moton High School was built as a school for black students in Prince Edward County. As the school's attendance grew, shacks made of plywood and tar paper were built to accommodate more students.

Site History: This facility is a fantastic example of the "separate but equal" policies sweeping the US during the mid-20th century. The building was missing many things a white school would have, like a gym, cafeteria, or lab space. Student Barbara Rose Johns noticed these differences and helped organize a student strike in 195. She and the other participants wanted the school board to build them a new school, since the current facilities were clearly inadequate. However, the area superintendent told them nothing could be done until they ended their strike. Soon, NAACP lawyers Oliver W. Hill and Spottswood Robinson III came to Prince Edward to fight the school board and even try to desegregate Prince Edward County Schools. Eventually, the students at Moton moved to a newer, more equal school in 1953, but the fight for equality in Prince Edward was far from over.

Area History: After the case of Brown v. Board of Education, Virginia enacted a Massive Resistance policy to avoid desegregating its public schools. In response to the new integration orders, Prince Edward County Schools closed for a period of five years, limiting access to education for hundreds of children. Eventually, after the Supreme Court case Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward, Prince Edward's schools became integrated.

What about the site has changed? Now, the school serves as a civil rights museum. The site uses first-person accounts of the period of segregation and the following school closure. The street the school is on is now called Griffin Boulevard

Reflection: My dad grew up in Farmville, so it was really fascinating to learn so much about the local history in a place I spent a lot of my childhood. I knew very little about the area, especially during the Civil Rights era, since those events occurred before my father was born. Getting to explore a site I had never taken the time to visit really added to my perspective of both US history as a whole and the history of the town where my dad grew up. I'm looking forward to seeing more sites in the area, now that I'm more aware of how much local history there is.

Sources:

Cannato, Vincent J., Barbara Will, Daniel Feller, Danny Heitman, and Steven Nadler. "Massive Resistance in a Small Town." National Endowment for the Humanities. https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2013/septemberoctober/feature/massive-resistance-in-small-town.

"Farmville, Virginia - Separate Is Not Equal." Smithsonian National Museum of American History Behring Center. http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/4-five/farmville-virginia-1.html.

Heinemann, Contributed By Ronald L. "Moton School Strike and Prince Edward County School Closings." Moton School Strike and Prince Edward County School Closings. http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Moton_School_Strike_and_Prince_Edward_County_School_Closings.

"Moton Museum: About" Moton Museum RSS. http://www.motonmuseum.org/about/.

"We Shall Overcome -- Robert Russa Moton High School." National Parks Service. https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/v1.htm.