May 23, 2009
Robert Russa Moton Museum will host the second event in Reflecting Brown, a series of lectures and book-signings scheduled in the month of May honoring the landmark Brown decisions that affirmed racial equality and justice in education.
Professor Mildred W. Robinson will discuss the book she and Richard J. Bonnie edited titled Law Touched Our Hearts: A Generation Remembers Brown v. Board of Education on Saturday, May 23 at 1:00 pm.
“This book stands alone in presenting, in one source, stories of black and white Americans, men and women, from all parts of the nation, who were public school students during the years immediately after Brown…. Their moving stories of how Brown affected them say much about race relations then and now,” according the book overview.
Mildred W. Robinson is Henry L. and Grace Doherty Charitable Foundation Professor, at University of Virginia School of Law. Vanderbilt University Press published her book.
The month of May is significant in the history of civil rights in education and Brown with the following dates holding prominence:
On May 23, 1951 with the filing of Davis vs. School Board (the only student-initiated case in the Brown trials), Prince Edward County citizens called for an end to racial segregation in public education.
Three years later, May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court agreed with Davis v. School Board and established that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” in Brown v. Board of Education.
In the May 31, 1955 case, Brown II called for desegregation with “all deliberate speed.”
The May 25, 1964 case, Griffin v. School Board, established that “The time for mere ‘deliberate speed’ has run out.”
The mission of the Moton Museum is to preserve and positively interpret the history of Civil Rights in Education, specifically as it relates to Prince Edward County and the role its citizens played in America’s struggle to move from a segregated to an integrated society.
Moton was the site of the April 23, 1951 student walkout in protest of inferior educational facilities led by 16-year-old sophomore Barbara Johns. The Moton strike launched Prince Edward County’s 13-year struggle for Civil Rights in Education and resulted in the filing of Davis v. Prince Edward, which called for an end to racial segregation in public education. Davis was decided, along with four other cases, in the Supreme Court decisions Brown v. Board (1954) and Brown II (1955).
The Moton Museum is located in the former R. R. Moton High School at 900 Griffin Boulevard, Farmville, Virginia. The lecture and book signing is free of charge and open to the public. For additional information, please telephone 434–315-8775.