Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County

In the summer of 1959, white leaders of the Prince Edward School Foundation announced that they would be willing to establish a private school for black students. Having not been consulted, blacks were not interested. Black leaders urged parents to hold out for the greater victory of integrated public schools. On a visit to Richmond in early 1960, Martin Luther King Jr., then a rising figure in the civil rights movement, also urged Prince Edward County parents to reject the offer. In the end, only one child applied to attend the private black school, and white leaders dropped the issue, blaming the failure on outside groups such as the NAACP.

Early in the 1959 school year, white leaders also began advocating for Farmville to sell the public high school to the Prince Edward School Foundation so they could move their classes there. The building had to be maintained and insured whether used or not, so the Foundation made the case that its standing empty was a waste of money. The public school board was opposed, believing that, if the sale took place, the public schools would never reopen. The private school leaders instead began looking for land on which to build a new school.

The town sold a 13-acre lot to the Prince Edward School Foundation early in 1960, and school leaders launched a fundraising campaign for the building. County residents and businesses pitched in, donating money and building supplies so that the school could be built and opened by the fall of 1961. For its first year, Prince Edward Academy had provided school for free, but now it began charging tuition. Some poorer students had to drop out. Some moved away to attend public schools in nearby counties. Other families took on heavy debt to afford the tuition.

Meanwhile, B. Calvin Bass continued working to reopen the public schools. In late 1959, he began meeting secretly with other white leaders who were concerned that the school closure was bad for the local economy and a blight on the community. The group also met with black leaders to negotiate how to proceed, but talks ended without resolution. After a meeting in June 1960, Bass and other leaders were harassed by segregationists and publicly embarrassed for their efforts, causing friction in town. That proved to be the end of their attempts to reopen the schools.  

Based on interviews with a handful of Farmville residents, Greenville illustrates how the school closings divided black families. Betty Jean Ward, for example, was sent to live with her grandparents during the week so she could attend public school in their county. Her two older siblings left town for the program at Kittrell College. She hated to be separated from them, but the Kittrell program accepted juniors and seniors only, and she was a sophomore. Before the school closings, her home was a lively place of family dinners and activities. Afterward, the family would never all live under the same roof again.

Dorothy Lockett and her brother Edward attended the tutorial centers that Reverend Griffin opened, but Dorothy was desperate to attend a real school. Her father was frustrated that four of his older children had quit school and, wanting his two youngest to get an education, came up with a plan. He worked for the railroad, and some of his white co-workers helped him rent a broken down house near a project they were working on in Appomattox County. He fixed it up somewhat for appearances, but they never lived there. Each morning, he drove his two kids and three grandkids to the house and instructed them to wait out back until they saw the bus coming down the road. Then they walked into the house through the back door and out again through the front door, where the bus picked them up.

Green tells of other kids who just stayed home and went without schooling, as well as some who moved to New York to find work in sales or in a factory. Poor white kids missed out on education during this time, too, especially when the private academy started charging tuition. The result for some was lifelong illiteracy.

Finally, Green relates what happened to Gwen Lancaster. She had always excelled in school and her mother did not want her falling behind by staying home. Although mother and daughter were extremely close and hated the idea of being separated, Lancaster sent Gwen north to stay with relatives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

Mimi and Papa ask Lancaster nothing about her decision to send Gwen north for school. Green writes that they must have known about it, but Lancaster, too, opts to stay silent and just do her work. She later tells Green that she missed Gwen terribly. With her only child gone, her life felt empty—and her house as well after her husband gave away or sold some of Gwen’s toys. One day, Green’s mother, only 10 or 11 at the time, asked Lancaster why Gwen was gone. It felt like an accusation to Lancaster even though it was a child’s innocent question.

In the present day, it is Green’s older daughter’s fifth birthday party. For the rainbow theme, they string Fruit Loops on necklaces. But the theme is also reflected in the guests, writes Green. Amaya’s friends include black and multiracial kids, which makes Green happy. She and her husband want their daughters to have a childhood different from hers, open to diversity and full of friends from all backgrounds. Her hope is that the party is just a glimpse of her daughter’s future.