Barbara Rose Johns - Moton High School

Moton High School

While living in Prince Edward County, Barbara was educated in segregated public schools. In 1951, 16 year-old Barbara Johns was a junior at the all-black Moton High School in Farmville. Across town was another school, open exclusively to white students. The resources available to each school, and the quality of the facilities, were unequal. Barbara’s school was designed and built to hold roughly 200 students, though by 1951 enrollment was twice that number. According to a first-person account from Barbara’s sister, Joan:

In winter the school was very cold. And a lot of times we had to put on our jackets. Now, the students that sat closest to the wood stove were very warm and the ones who sat farthest away were very cold. And I remember being cold a lot of times and sitting in the classroom with my jacket on. When it rained, we would get water through the ceiling. So there were lots of pails sitting around the classroom. And sometimes we had to raise our umbrellas to keep the water off our heads. It was a very difficult setting for trying to learn.

Parents of the black students appealed to the all-white school board to provide a larger and properly equipped facility. As a stopgap measure, the board erected several tar paper shacks to handle the overflow of students. Frustrated with the separate and unequal facilities, Barbara decided to take action.