Monday, September 16, 1963: Prince Edward County schools

     
     FARMVILLE, Va. -- Negro children return to school in Prince Edward County today for the first time since public schools were closed four years to avoid desegregation.

     The children are attending free private schools set up only a month ago at the urging of President Kennedy.

     Trustees of the Prince Edward Free School Association expect between 1,200 and 1,600 Negro pupils to enroll.

     At least two white children were to join the Negroes in the first classroom integration in Prince Edward. They are Richard D. Moss, son of Dr. C.G. Gordon Moss, dean of Longwood College and an outspoken critic of the school closing, and Letitia Tew, 7, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W.W. Tew of Throck. Tew is a tobacco farmer.

     White children in Prince Edward have attended private segregated schools since 1959. They must pay tuition.

     The free schools were set up as a one-year emergency measure while the 11-year-old legal battle against segregated public schools is carried back to the U.S. Supreme Court.

     -- The Associated Press, September 16

    -- Photo from Corbis Images. Original caption reads: "School doors swung open 09/16 for children of Prince Edward County, where public schools had been padlocked since 1959 in advance of court-ordered integration. Neil Sullivan (L), director of schools, smiles as Alfred Brown hoists the American flag in front of the school building, and other students recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Note: The county's public schools would reopen in September 1964. ("Prince Edward Schools Open After 5 Years": @)

* "Negroes Welcome New School" (Associated Press, September 17): @

* "The Lock Begins to Open" (Ebony magazine, November, Page 63): @

* "Prince Edwards' 'Massive Resistance' " (John Alfred Hamilton, Nieman Reports, 1962): @

* "Massive Resistance in a Small Town" (Humanities magazine, September/October 2013): @

* "Moton School Strike and Prince Edward County School Closings" (from Encyclopedia of Virginia): @

* "The Closing of Prince Edward County's Schools" (from Virginia Historical Society): @ 
* Edward H. Peeples Prince Edward County (Va.) Public Schools Collection (from VCU Libraries): @

* "The Tragedy of Public Schools: Prince Edward County, Virginia" ("A Report for the Virginia Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights," January 1964; from Peeples collection): @

* "A Study in Infamy: Prince Edward County, Virginia" (Picott and Peoples, Phi Delta Kappan, May 1964; from Peeples collection): @

* Robert Russa Moton Museum, Farmville, Virginia: @

* DOVE (Desegregation of Virginia Education project): @

* "The Educational Lockout of African Americans in Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1959-1964" (Terence Hicks and Abul Pitre, 2010): @ 

* "Southern Stalemate: Five Years Without Public Eduation in Prince Edward County, Virginia" (Christopher Bonastia, 2012): @

* TV footage (from Television News of the Civil Rights Era, 1950-1970, University of Virginia; scroll down to Prince Edward County clips): @

* "Locked Out: The Fall of Massive Resistance" (video; from Classroom Clips): @

* "The Legacy of Massive Resistance" (audio; from "With Good Reason" program, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities): @ 

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