Research

In Print:

  • Allen Freeman, “Farmville: A Burden of History.” Historic Preservation, January/February 1996, pp. 62-67.
    Good summary of the Moton School’s history and the early days of the museum project; color photos.
  • Timothy M. Phelps, “A Model for the Nation: Virginia county has high-quality, integrated schools.” New York Newsday, May 17, 1994, pp. A6, A17.
    An optimistic summary of Prince Edward County’s public schools and racial situation on the fortieth anniversary of Brown.
  • Bob Smith, They Closed Their Schools: Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1951-1964. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1965; reprinted 1996, Farmville, Va., Martha E. Forrester Council of Women
    The definitive story of the struggle for desegregated public schools, 1950-1964.
  • “Prince Edward County: Revisited and Revitalized.” Virginia Quarterly Review Vol. 73, No. 1 (Winter 1997), pp. 1-27.
    An optimistic updating of the Prince Edward County situation a third of a century after Smith’s book.
  • Jennifer E. Spreng, “Scenes from the Southside: A Desegregation Drama in Five Acts.” University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Journal, Vol. 19 (1997), pp. 327-412.
    Thorough treatment of all the court cases, plus a good summary of changing community attitudes in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s.
  • Lacy B. Ward, Jr., “The Robert Russa Moton Museum: A Center for the Study of Civil Rights in Education.” Virginia Review, July/August 1996.
    A succinct overview of the history of the Moton School and the museum project.

Articles and Information about the Moton School

  • Archives of the American Friends Service Committee- The AFSC helped to place children in northern schools so they could continue their education when the schools closed. (Note: The AFSC records are open to researchers only after the individual has completed an application form, which requests references and a writing sample.)