Moton Museum Receives $250,000 Grant from the Dominion Foundation
Farmville, VA – Dominion Virginia Power recently announced that it is donating $250,000 to the Robert Russa Moton Museum: A Center for the Study of Civil Rights in Education. The grant was made through the Dominion Foundation, the company’s philanthropic arm.
The Robert Russa Moton Museum received the grant to produce a documentary film to mark the 60th anniversary of the 1951 student-led walkout protesting unequal education facilities for African Americans. The documentary, Strike: April 23, 1951, is a dramatization of the heroic actions that transpired at R.R. Moton High School, a National Historic Landmark that houses the Robert Russa Moton Museum. The actions of the students were a major component of the American Civil Rights movement and the origin of one of the five cases which comprised the 1954 and 1955 landmark decision Brown v. Board. Upon completion, the film will serve as the introduction to the Museum’s permanent exhibition: Moton 2011. The grant will underwrite the documentary, produced and directed by Emmy-nominated Tim Reid and co-founder of New Millennium Studios.
Moton was one of several organizations in Virginia to receive a grant in support of diversity projects in the fields of education, culture, history and health. Dominion recently announced more than $1 million in grants to support diversity projects in Virginia. “Dominion values communities and the diversity that lies within them,” said Paul D. Koonce, chief executive office of Dominion Virginia Power. “The organizations receiving funding were carefully selected because of their potential benefits not only to our customers and employees, but also to the success of the communities we serve.”
Dominion and The Dominion Foundation have formed a partnership with the Moton Museum that has served to support ongoing educational programming. Over the last three years Dominion, through the foundation, has donated approximately $500,000 in support of the development of the museum and related programming.
“Through the continued generous support of Dominion and the Dominion Foundation, the Moton Museum has been able to enlarge its research, development and leadership training capacities,” says Lacy Ward, Jr., director of the Moton Museum. “Now, with this new and substantial grant, the museum will take an extraordinary step to enhance the experience of the public, as visitors will be able to see events through the eyes of those young people in 1951. We are deeply grateful to the entire Dominion family for its generosity.”
The Robert Russa Moton Museum is located at 900 Griffin Boulevard, Farmville, Virginia. The museum is establishing a permanent exhibit that will trace Prince Edward County’s 13 year struggle to establish an integrated school system. The exhibition will be in place by April 23, 2011, the 60th anniversary of the student protest. It will offer the only place in the Commonwealth where visitors can come to understand the processes by which citizens and their national, state and local governments resolved the policy issues of segregation in public education. For more information visit the museum’s web site at https://motonmuseum.org.