GALLERY I
GALLERY II
GALLERY III
GALLERY IV
GALLERY V
GALLERY VI

RESOURCES

TIMELINE

1865  Civil War ends

1868  14th Amendment grants African Americans citizenship rights.
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” —14th Amendment

1870 15th Amendment grants African American men the right to vote

1882  Virginia General Assembly charters Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute (now Virginia State University)

1870   State of Virginia establishes a public school system. First public schools open in Prince Edward County

1896   Supreme Court issues Plessy v. Ferguson, stating that segregated facilities do not violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment as long as they are equal in accommodations

1897   Sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois lives in Farmville for the summer as part of his research for The Philadelphia Negro. He would later publish his study of Farmville as a United States Government Bureau of Labor Report

1902  State of Virginia revises constitution to bar African Americans from voting and to segregate schools

1920  Mrs. Martha E. Forrester organizes the Colored Council of Women in Farmville

1926  First Robert R. Moton school built

1927  Rev. Charles Griffin takes over as pastor at First Baptist Church

1930  Through efforts of black citizens, 10th and 11th grades added to the Moton School

1932  First Moton School accredited by the state as a high school

1938  W. A. Carter, Negro County Farm Agent J. W. Lancaster, and dentist N. P. Miller form a branch of the NAACP in Farmville

1939  Prince Edward County school board starts to pay for transportation of black students to school

1939  Robert R. Moton High School opens; built with WPA funds for 180 students

1941-1945  World War II

October 1947  State Board of Education determines Moton High School inadequate

1948  Tar paper shacks erected on grounds of Moton High School to deal with overcrowding

1949  Rev. L. Francis Griffin assumes pastorate of First Baptist Church after the death of his father

February 1951  PTA Committee told that there was no need to return to the school board meetings; they would be notified when the land for a new school had been purchased

March 13, 1951  School bus accident at Elam Crossing in Prospect kills five Moton High School students

April 23, 1951  Student strike
1896  Plessy v. Ferguson

1909  NAACP founded in New York City

1933  Thurgood Marshall and Oliver Hill graduate from Howard Law School [check date] use quote from Houston – “Lawyers as social engineers.”; “struggles must spring from the community” Oliver Hill quote about why he went to law school

1935  NAACP initiates legal campaign to challenge segregation in education

1935  Virginia State Conference of Branches founded; Virginia Teachers Association, the professional organization of black teachers, supports legal campaign to challenge inequalities in education

1935  Alice Jackson was the first African American to apply to the University of Virginia but was denied admission on the basis of her race

1940  Alston decision in Norfolk calls for equalization of teachers’ salaries

1946  Morgan v. Virginia declares segregation on interstate bus transportation unconstitutional

1947  Thurgood Marshall chooses Virginia as site of sustained campaign to equalize facilities in the secondary schools; Spottswood Robinson & Lester Banks run the campaign

1948   Equalization decisions in Gloucester County & King George County

1949   Briggs v. Elliott case, from Clarendon County, South Carolina, filed in federal district court

1950  Sweatt & McLaurin decisions Gregory Swanson admits to the University of Virginia Law School Arguments in Bolling v. Sharpe (Washington, DC case)

February 1951   Brown v. Board of Education case filed in federal district court in Kansas.

April 25, 1951   Attorneys Oliver Hill and Spottswood Robinson meet with students in Farmville. Farmville Herald calls strike “mass hookie”

April 26, 1951   Mass meeting held in First Baptist Church. Prince Edward citizens request NAACP to “intervene” [check date]

May 23, 1951   Davis case filed. Briggs v. Elliott case (South Carolina) goes to trial

June 1951   Brown v. Board of Education goes to trial

August 1951   Moton school loan approved by state of Virginia. State officials had moved up Prince Edward’s request to the top of the list once the Davis case was filed

October 1951   Cases from Delaware – Gebhart v. Belton and others – go to trial

March 1952   The Federal District Court in the Davis case rules in favor of the Prince Edward County School Board

April 1952   The Federal District Court in the Delaware cases orders the admission of the black students to white schools. The school board appeals the case

June 1952   The Supreme Court announces that it will hear the Briggs and the Brown cases

October 1952   The Supreme Court announces that it will hear all the cases relating to school desegregation – including the Davis case, the Delaware cases, & Bolling v. Sharpe – together.

December 9-11, 1952   First round of arguments in the Brown cases

June 1952   Supreme Court orders a second round of arguments in the Brown cases.

September 1953   Chief Justice Fred Vinson, Jr. dies unexpectedly of a heart attack on the 8th. President Eisenhower nominates California Governor Earl Warren as interim chief justice. The Court reschedules the arguments on Brown for December

Fall [Sept or Oct?] 1953   New Moton High School opens

December 7-9, 1954   Supreme Court hears arguments on the Brown cases

March 1954   The U.S. Senate confirms Earl Warren as chief justice

May 17, 1954   Brown decision and Bolling v. Sharpe decisions. The Bolling case was a separate decision because the 14th Amendment only applies to the states, not to Washington, D.C.
May 17, 1954   The Supreme Court hands down decision in Brown v Board of Education, declaring segregation in public education to be unconstitutional

June [25?]26, 1954   Senator Harry Byrd announces he will use all legal means to keep segregation in schools. Virginia Governor Stanley pledges opposition

July 11, 1954   White Citizens’ Council organized by Robert Patterson in Indianola, Mississippi

October 1954   Defenders of State Sovereignty organized

1955   Virginia Council for Human Relations founded

April 1955   Third round of arguments on Brown heard. This time the arguments focus on remedy

May 31, 1955   In Brown II, the Supreme Court declares that school desegregation should occur “with all deliberate speed” and that federal district courts would supervise desegregation

June 1955   Prince Edward School Foundation organized to develop private school education program

August 1955   Emmitt Till murdered in Mississippi

November 11, 1955   Gray Commission issues its plan

November 30, 1955   Governor Stanley calls a special session of the General Assembly to call for a constitutional convention to amend Section 141 of the Constitution

December 1955   Senator Byrd calls the desegregation question “the most serious crisis that has occurred since the War Between the States”

December 1955   Rosa Parks arrested in Montgomery, Alabama; Montgomery bus boycott November 1956

January 9, 1956   Virginia voters approve the calling of a constitutional convention by a vote of 304,154 to 146,164

Jan-Feb 1956   The Virginia General Assembly passes an interposition resolution [check date]

February 21, 1956   Delegates to a constitutional convention elected

February 1956   Senator Byrd calls for “massive resistance”

March 7, 1956   Constitutional Convention held and amended Section 141 to allow for public funds to be able to be used to pay for tuition to private schools

March 12, 1956   19 U.S. Senators and 81 representatives issue the Southern Manifesto in opposition to Supreme Court decision

May 3, 1956   PE Board of Supervisors announces it will not appropriate money for desegregated schools

August 1956   In a special session, Virginia General Assembly passes massive resistance laws and laws targeting the NAACP

January 1957   The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) founded; Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. is president

September 1957   Congress passes a Civil Rights Act that provides only limited federal protection of black voting
President Eisenhower sends troops to suppress mob violence in Little Rock, Arkansas

November 1957   Former Virginia Attorney General J. Lindsay Almond elected governor of Virginia

September 1958   Governor Almond closes schools in Warren County, and in the cities of Charlottesville and Norfolk

January 1959   Federal and state courts strike down Virginia’s state massive resistance laws

February 1959   Public schools reopen on a desegregated basis in Norfolk; Arlington and Alexandria desegregate their schools

September 1959   Public schools reopen on a desegregated basis in Charlottesville

February 1960   Virginia General Assembly passes legislation that provides tuition grants for segregated private academies and enacts “freedom of choice” plans[check on this]
May 9, 1959   The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit orders that Prince Edward County public schools must desegregate in September

June 26, 1959   PE County Board of Supervisors refuses to fund public schools, effectively closing them

September 10, 1959   Public schools in Prince Edward County remain closed, while the Prince Edward Academy opens to provide education to white children in the county

The AME Church makes it possible for juniors and seniors at Moton High School to attend Kittrell College in North Carolina

February 1960   College student sit-ins in Greensboro, NC, Richmond, VA, and other cities in the South

1960   Prince Edward County Christian Association formed; grassroots schools – called “training centers” – organized [check date]

American Friends Service Committee begins efforts to relocate students outside of the county so they have access to education

Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors passes local ordinance providing tax breaks for those who donate to the Prince Edward Academy

April 1961   Centennial of the beginning of the Civil War

May 1961   Freedom Riders pass through Farmville on their way south

1961   Interracial group “Richmond Committee of Volunteers” begins educational and recreational activities for Prince Edward children

The Virginia Teachers Association provides summer education program in Prince Edward

March 28, 1962   Martin Luther King, Jr. visits Prince Edward County

1962   Hampton Institute, Harvard and Yale organize summer educational programs for PE students

December 1962   Kennedy Justice Department joins NAACP as a friend of the court in the appeal of the Prince Edward case

1963   Centennial year of the Emancipation Proclamation

February 28, 1963   President Kennedy addresses Prince Edward crisis in his address to Congress

March 1963   RFK speech: “Something must be done about Prince Edward County”

June 1963   President Kennedy delivers his civil rights message

July 1963   Protests and Demonstrations in Farmville

Summer 1963   American Federation of Teachers and Queens College organize summer educational program for PE students.

August 1963   Press conference announcing the creation of the Prince Edward County Free School Association

August 28, 1963   March on Washington
September 15, 1963   Bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL

September 16, 1963   Prince Edward County Free Schools open

November 22, 1963   President John F. Kennedy assassinated

May 1964   Robert F. Kennedy visits Free Schools and PE County

May 24, 1964   Supreme Court decides Griffin v. Prince Edward and orders the reopening of the public schools.

July 1964   President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act

August 18, 1964   NAACP files suit challenging the Virginia state tuition vouchers

December 1964   Virginia tuition grants declared unlawful

August 1965   President Lyndon Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act

May 27, 1968   Supreme Court decides Green v. New Kent County, VA in which it says that the “freedom of choice” plans used to delay school desegregation were unconstitutional. This decision opens the door for first widespread school desegregation in Virginia and the South

1971   Revision of Virginia state constitution

1972   Overcrowding at one county school as bad as it was at Moton in 1951

PE County forced to increase education budget by 48% to meet new state standards

1970s-1980s   White students gradually return to public schools