Overview

THEN AND NOW
Commemorating Brown v. Board of Education
Longwood University

"We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal," wrote Chief Justice Earl Warren in the Supreme Court's opinion in Brown v. Board of Education, issued on May 17, 1954. This decision marked the culmination of a decades-long struggle by African Americans to improve the educational opportunities for their children. At the same time, the Brown decision signaled the beginning of new struggles. It inspired African Americans to challenge segregation in other parts of American society, as well as to fulfill the mandate of Brown by desegregating the public schools. In response, some white Southerners, including state officials, resisted and undermined the implementation of school desegregation. As a result, the "historical legacy of Brown," in the words of historian Waldo E. Martin, Jr., "has been complex, contested, and at times ambiguous."

At Longwood University during 2004, we seek to commemorate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision by exploring the history and legacy of this Supreme Court decision for our nation, our state, and in particular, our local community. The Brown decision actually included five court cases, one of which came from Prince Edward County ( Davis v. County School Board ) and was prompted by the student walkout at Robert Russa Moton High School in 1951. In the wake of the Brown decision, the state of Virginia led the South in articulating "massive resistance" to school desegregation. By 1959, federal courts had ruled against the state of Virginia, declaring its massive resistance laws unconstitutional. Consequently, Prince Edward County officials chose to close the public schools here, rather than desegregate them. They remained closed until 1964, when the Supreme Court ordered Prince Edward County to reopen the doors of its schools. The legacy of the school closings for the local community, as well as the role Longwood played during the period, will be one of the aspects of the historical legacy of Brown that we will examine. We hope through education and discussion we can in some way redress Longwood's position toward school desegregation in Prince Edward County.

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