page_title: Virginia Civil Rights Memorial
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Virginia Civil Rights Memorial / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Plaque on the Virginia Capitol grounds commemorating the integration of Virginia schools struggle.
context_page_description: The Virginia Civil Rights Memorial is a monument in Richmond, Virginia commemorating protests which helped bring about school desegregation in the state. The memorial was opened in July 2008, and is located on the grounds of the Virginia State Capitol. It features eighteen statues of leaders or participants in the Civil Rights Movement on four sides of a rectangular granite stone block onto which are carved quotes. The memorial was designed by Stanley Bleifeld, who was chosen by the commission behind the construction of the monument. The memorial cost $2.8 million which was financed by private donations.
context_section_description: R. R. Moton High School, an all-black high school in Farmville, Virginia, founded in 1923, suffered from terrible conditions due to underfunding. The school did not have a gymnasium, cafeteria or teachers' restrooms. Teachers and students did not have desks or blackboards, and due to overcrowding, some students had to take classes in an immobilized, decrepit school bus parked outside the main school building. The school's requests for additional funds were denied by the all-white school board.
  In response, on April 23, 1951, a 16-year-old student named Barbara Rose Johns covertly organized a student general strike.  She forged notes to teachers telling them to bring their students to the auditorium for a special announcement. When the school's students showed up, Johns took the stage and persuaded the school to strike to protest poor school conditions. Over 450 walked out and marched to the homes of members of the school board, who refused to see them. Thus began a two-week protest.
  The protest led to a court case where Virginia civil rights lawyers Oliver Hill and Spottswood Robinson brought suit against the school board. Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County was eventually one of the four cases combined into Brown v. Board of Education, the famous case in which the U.S. Supreme Court, in 1954, officially overturned racial segregation in U.S. public schools. However the policies of Massive Resistance delayed integration until the 1960s when national legislation was passed.
caption: Plaque describing the movement for integration of Virginia schools.
exif: {"Image Make": "Apple", "Image Model": "iPhone 3GS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "4.3.3", "Image DateTime": "2011:07:10 14:59:40", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "206", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[37, 3231/100, 0]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[77, 2601/100, 0]", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[18, 59, 3712]", "GPS GPSImgDirectionRef": "T", "GPS GPSImgDirection": "38855/353", "Image GPSInfo": "576", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "840", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "11921", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/367", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "64", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:07:10 14:59:40", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:07:10 14:59:40", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "7982/937", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4281/1441", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Average", "EXIF Flash": "No flash function", "EXIF FocalLength": "77/20", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[1023, 767, 614, 614]", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2048", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1536", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Soft"}