A Little Child Shall Lead Them by Daugherity Brian J.;Grogan Brian;

Author:Daugherity, Brian J.;Grogan, Brian;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Virginia Press

QUESTIONS

1.Why did the school board resign in 1960, and how did this reflect its members’ concern over the closing of the county’s public schools?

2.In what ways did the school board believe that county residents were being misled by those who supported private school education in Prince Edward County?

Statement to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

L. Francis Griffin

February 25–26, 1961

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is a federal agency, established by Congress in 1957, that investigates, reports on, and recommends civil rights policy. Its 1961 annual conference, held in Williamsburg, Virginia, focused on the problems facing “schools in transition,” and challenges related to school integration were central to the discussions.

Reverend L. Francis Griffin submitted a statement to the conference on behalf of the African American community of Prince Edward County. Griffin’s statement addressed the black community’s desire for better educational opportunities and the problems created by the closure of the public schools. Griffin harshly criticized the actions of Prince Edward County’s elected officials.

Gentlemen, I am pleased to have this opportunity and means to address you on a subject of uttermost importance in my mind—the closed public schools in Prince Edward County, Va. The action of the board of supervisors in closing public schools represents a complete abdication of all that democracy stands for. It is very depressing, to say the least, to be constantly aware that we live in the only place in the United States that has no public schools.

I trust that the following report will give you a clearer insight into the shameful situation that exists in our county. Despite the constant threat of reprisals, some of us are determined to see democracy become an actuality in Prince Edward County and throughout America regardless of the attitude of diehard segregationists.

Prince Edward County is one of the several Virginia counties situated in the so-called Black Belt of Virginia. The Black Belt is a rather loosely defined geographical political area where the Negro population approximates or exceeds the white population.

Racial patterns evident in Virginia’s Black Belt follow very closely the patterns found in similar densely Negro-populated areas of other Southern States, included among which are South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.

Prince Edward County, like many of her counterparts in many of the above-mentioned States, has traditionally been a strict adherent to the “separate but unequal” doctrine in all matters pertaining to race. Voting has been discouraged. Public employment offers only the most menial job opportunities to the Negro, and even in these he is the last to be hired and the first to be fired. In private employment the same discriminatory pattern follows. More than likely the few who satisfy the prejudiced whims of the white employer hold such privileged employment with tenure that is in direct proportion to the degree to which they are willing to forfeit their dignity, manhood, and citizenship rights as free Americans. Public educational opportunities at all levels (elementary, secondary, and collegiate) have followed the same pattern.

Negro parents, having been conditioned by the innumerable overt and

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.