Racism & Segregation Defined: Prince Edward County's Lost Classes of 1959 to 1964

May 1, 1959, is when the seeds were planted for a movement that today threatens America’s public schools. On this day the Prince Edward County School District closed their public schools. This was done with the help of the state legislature that had lifted a law mandating all children had to attend schools. 

The closing of the schools lasted for 5 years until the Supreme Court stepped in ruling that what Virginia was trying to do was illegal, especially in light of the Brown v. Board of Education Decision of 1954.

The Brown decision was a cultural earthquake that shattered “Whites Only” education across the South. For more than a decade after full integration had not come to all states, primarily because the states were trl district began sending White students to private schools. Also, the state and county offered tax credits and other indirect ways to make sure these private schools were fully funded and could operate. 

The private school provisions were only made for White students though as these private schools could still practice segregation in opened in demographic areas that were over 97% White.

These actions drew the attention of national politicians, media, and civil rights leaders. The spotlight began getting bright with protests and legal challenges initiated by the NAACP. Then came the documentary/news program “The Lost Class of 1959”. President Kennedy called Congress’ attention to the outlaw school district in his speech to them on Civil Rights in 1963. Robert Kennedy was also bothered by the actions of Prince Edward County saying in a 1963 speech:

“We may observe with much sadness and irony that, outside of Africa, south of the Sahara, where education is still a difficult challenge, the only places on earth known not to provide free public education are Communist China, North Vietnam, Sarawak, Singapore, British Honduras—and Prince Edward County, Virginia.”

The closing of the schools didn’t just damage education for Black children in the county but this last stand for segregation forced some families to make long-term decisions that often led to the separation from the support of extended family. In other cases it meant children leaving home and going to live with foster families. The Quaker American Friends placed 70 children in these foster homes in North Carolina and other states.

Some families just changed counties and several Prince Edward black women, including former public-school teachers, began grassroots schools in their homes and churches. All of this was a great balancing act because of the lawsuits working through the legal system. 

In 1961 a federal court launched the first salvo to wreck this ambition plan when they ruled that no public funds could be used for the White private academies. Still, the county refused to unlock the schools and so the academies continued. This did effect some of the rural White families as well because many could not afford the now-necessary tuition. Racism remained the driving force. This was shown even more in May of 1964 when the Supreme Court ruled in Griffin v. County Board of Prince Edward County that the schools had to reopen. In September, after a five-year hiatus, Prince Edward students returned to public schools.

The county and state refused to fund the schools as they had before This underfunding took years to repair but student strikes and the Civil Rights Act continued to pressure the county and they slowly changed, with the rest of the country. In the mid-1990s the Martha E. Forrester Council of Women, a group that included former Moton teachers and students. Bought the former Moton School and created a museum with a permanent exhibit: “The Moton School Story: Children of Courage,” which was designed to help provide closure and understanding for the students who lived through the school closings. 

Unfortunately, the ideas of using public funds and tax credits and other tricks to pay for private schools mostly used by White students were explored and altered and today there is a national movement that emulates the Prince Edward County model but in a way that passes laws and many states and school districts have altered their laws to permit these private schools recreating some level of segregation and class separation. trying tricks like the Prince Edward County School District.

Sources:

https://www.searchablemuseum.com/students-on-strike

https://legaltimelines.org/accessible-timeline/students-rights/

https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2013/septemberoctober/feature/massive-resistance-in-small-town

A Love Letter Is a Black Boy’s Death Sentance

 

On January 2, 1944, Willie James Howard was taken from his home by three White men because he dared to give a Christmas Card to a White girl he worked with.

Willie James Howard was a delivery boy at the Van Priest Dime Store in Live Oak, Florida. At Christmas 1943 he gave a card to everyone he worked with, including Cynthia Goff a White girl, inside the card he had given her Willie expressed hope for Black and White people to share the world peacefully. Willie was a friendly and polite 15-year-old and was his parent’s only child. I had a crush on 17-year-old Cynthia. Cynthia for her part was embarrassed and upset to receive the card and so Willie wrote a short letter to apologize

Willie wrote these few lines to the girl: 

“Dear friend, Just a few lines to let you hear from me I am well and hope you are the same. This is what I said on that Christmas card. From W.J.H. with L.  I hope you will understand what I mean.  That is what I said now please don’t get angry with me because you can never tell what may get in somebody I did  not put it in there myself God did I can’t help what he does can I.  I know you don’t think much of our kind of people but we don’t hate you all we want to be your all friends but you want let us please don’t let anybody see this. I hope I haven’t made you mad if I did tell me about it an I will forget about it.  I wish this was a northern state. I guess you call me fresh.  Write an tell me what you think of me good or bad.

Sincerely yours, with L from Y.K.W.

To Cynthia Goff

I love your name.

I love your voice.

For a S.H. you are my choice.”

At some point, although it isn’t clear if she gave it to him or if he found it, Cynthia’s father read the letter and became enraged. The idea that a Black boy dared to write a White girl, the daughter of a former state representative galled him.

On the night of January 2nd Philip Goff and two other White men went to Willie’s home and demanded to see him. Willie’s mother knew because of the history of the South that if Willie went with these men she would never see him again; she begged and pleaded and apologized for Willie to Goff but he wouldn’t relent and they drug Willie from his home, they also kidnapped his father from where he worked. They bound both father and son and parked on an embankment of the Suwanee River. 

There they told Willie to either jump or be shot. The frightened young man decided to risk the possible escape by jumping into the river, unfortunately, he was not able to free himself and drowned. His father tragically watched. The father was given a moment to speak to his son before the murderers committed their heinous act. Willie’s father apologized to his son; “Willie, I cannot do anything for you now.  I’m glad I have belonged to the Church and prayed for you.”

Willie’s body was pulled from the river the next day by the Suwanee County Sheriff. The White men told the story that they had picked up Williw and his father and expected the father to discipline him while they watched, they tried to say they did not harm the boy and tried to save him when his father would not. 

The murder was typical business in the South for White men who felt disrespected by Black men and if it hadn’t been for a local Black lawyer Elbert C. Robinson who contacted the NAACP who sent Thurgood Marshall to investigate.

The NAACP wrote to Florida Governor Spessard Holland and with that influence, he assigned a special investigator, David Lanier to quietly make a report and advise on what the state should do.

Lanier interviewed the sheriff and Mr. and Mrs. Howard regarding Willie’s death. The Howards had fled Live Oak and moved to Orlando immediately following their son’s murder. 

Lanier determined the three White men had murdered Willie and the state prosecutor brought a grand jury. However, the prosecutor failed to introduce Lulu Howard’s statement and only asked James Howard if Willie had delivered his letter to Cynthia. The grand jury brought no indictment and despite the NAACP’s involvement nothing ever happened to Willie James Howard’s murderers.

Sources:

https://www.pbs.org/harrymoore/terror/lula2.html

https://dunnhistory.com/the-lynching-of-willie-james-howard-1944/