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Prince Edward County Courthouse
The Prince Edward County Courthouse in Farmville, Virginia, served as a central stage for civil rights activism during the county’s prolonged public school closures from 1959 to 1964. Following the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which mandated the desegregation of public schools, Prince Edward County took the extreme measure of shutting down its entire public school system rather than comply with integration orders. This action left Black students without formal education for five years, while white students attended newly established private segregation academies.
Throughout this period, the steps of the Prince Edward County Courthouse became a focal point for protests and demonstrations advocating for the reopening and integration of public schools. Notably, on May 20, 1961, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) organized a rally at the courthouse to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Brown decision and to protest the continued closure of schools. The event drew over 1,000 participants and featured speeches by prominent civil rights leaders, including Roy Wilkins and Oliver Hill, who condemned local and state officials for denying Black children access to education.
In July 1963, further demonstrations took place in front of the courthouse, where protesters carried signs demanding the reopening of schools and highlighting the injustice faced by Black students deprived of education. These peaceful protests were part of a broader movement that eventually led to the Supreme Court’s 1964 decision in Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, which ordered the reopening of public schools and deemed the county’s actions unconstitutional.