[Prince Edward County, Virginia, 250th Anniversary Celebration]

Children's Creative Exhibition, "People and Places of Prince Edward County" - April 30th, 2004

When They Closed the Schools
Excerpts from the diary of Peter Jones

By Travis Downes, Prince Edward County Eighth Grade Student
First Place Winner Grades 5-8

April 20th, 1951

There have been rumors up and down Moton High School that the students here are going to try something more drastic than simply talking amongst themselves and complaining. I'm not yet sure as to what exactly is being planned, but I will try to find out as soon as I can. Barbara Johns speaks often to her friends and anyone who will listen about what she would like to see the students do. She wants a better school system, ideally one as good as the white students'. Four years ago, the State Board of Education ruled that the school building, which was originally built to accommodate two hundred, was inadequate to fit four hundred and fifty students. We are packed into rooms with old, used textbooks that are out of date by over ten years. But for all the discomforts the students in the actual school building have to endure, it's worse for the students unlucky enough to be placed outside, in the "tar and paper shacks." The "tar and paper shacks" are just that, poorly constructed shanties constructed from paper and kept in place by layers of tar.

A better school system would be wonderful, I must admit, but it has been requested before to no avail. I wonder what Barbara has in mind that makes her think that this time will be different? For myself, I will wait and see.

April 26th, 1951

Well, Barbara's idea certainly was drastic. Three days ago, on April 23, 1951, the students of Moton High School walked out. Our strike demands were simple enough: we just wanted what the State Board of Education has been saying they would give us for four years now. We wanted a better school, and, following Barbara's plan, we tried something a bit more forceful than meek requests. I'm still not sure whether this was a good idea or not. This simple request is definitely not going to sit well with the State Board of Education. We met with Attorneys Spottswood Robinson and Oliver Hill of the Richmond NAACP. They suggested that instead of just requesting a better school building, we should challenge Virginia's law requiring segregated schools. It's a radical move, and one that's going to meet stiff resistance from just about everybody. But think of what it would be like if it worked! We would be in the same school, with better books and better classrooms. We would be equal at last!

May 17th, 1954

It's been three years since I wrote about the strike. Our case became one of five different cases from around the nation that were included in the 1954 Brown Vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, Supreme Court decision that overturned the "Separate but Equal" precedent that was set in the Plessy Vs. Ferguson decision of 1896. What does this mean? We won! We're no longer "Separate but Equal." We're equal, period! It took around 89 years too long, but late is better than never. All in all, today has been a very, very good day.

September 16th, 1964

It's been ten long years since Brown Vs. Board of Education. Our plan didn't quite turn out like we had hoped or expected. We started out as a few kids who decided to go on strike for a better school building. Our simple plea escalated into a nationwide upheaval which ended in the removal of the "Separate but Equal" laws. But then history took a little twist that we kids didn't anticipate. Senator Harry Byrd led a policy of "Massive Resistance" to the courts' integration decisions that lasted until June 2nd 1959, when the Supreme Court stepped in and forced Byrd to open public schools to all Americans, white or black. In response, segregationists decided to close the schools for five years. Wow! Could we have ever anticipated that what we did on April 23, 1951 would end up in this? Myself, I think it was worth it. We missed five years of school, but we can leave with our heads held high, because we know that those who come after us will have an equal chance to learn. And we, the students of Moton High School, are the people who made it possible.

Sources: Prince Edward County, Revisited and Revitalized, by R. C. Smith http://web.lwc.edu/library/revisit.htm
Separate But Not Equal: Race, Education, and Prince Edward County, Virginia http://www.library.vcu.edu/jbe/speccoll/pec0l.html
They Closed Their Schools, by Bob Smith, Copyright 1996