January 19, 2015
My favorite MLK celebration: the Virginia way
This weekend I traveled from one corner of Virginia to the other - from the rural mountains of Farmville all the way to Arlington/Washington DC area. I can't think of a better way to have celebrated the spirit of Martin Luther King Day. My first stop on Saturday was in Farmville. I was invited by the folks behind the Virginia Children's Book Festival to tour the Moton Museum and other sites for the upcoming VCBF (Oct 16 - 17, 2015). The Museum, as part of its commitment to children in the Farmville area, is a founding partner in the festival. The Moton is also an absolute gem. It's the former Moton High School – and the historic site of a student walkout led by 16-year-old Barbara Johns and fellow students who demanded better conditions. Their case eventually got picked up by civil rights attorney Oliver Hill and became part of the five cases that made up Brown v. Board of Education. Justin Reid, the museum's associate director for operations, led us through the exhibits, which are a visual chronology of Virginia's role in the early civil rights movement. Many of the families who were part of movement - as well as those who wished to keep schools segregated - still live in Farmville. Prince Edward County participated in Massive Resistance, of course, shuttering schools rather than integrating, so there is an especially poignant personal element to all the photos and artifacts. But there's also a spirit of forward movement and strength. Places like the Moton…
