episode summary

The Supreme Court decision outlawing school segregation began with a student strike in Prince Edward County, Virginia. Justice didn’t follow that ruling — white officials in Prince Edward County closed public schools rather than integrate. Host Ed Ayers learns about the drama that unfolded through conversations with two of the student strikers. He discovers how Black women activists defied the school closures by starting grassroots schools, and he meets an author whose grandfather helped start a whites-only “segregation academy.” In a museum at the school that started it all, Ed talks with a descendant of strikers who inspires students today to take up the fight for justice.

EMMY WINNING

This episode was awarded a National Capital Emmy Award in 2021.

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sites visited (in order of appearance on-screen)

  • Robert Russa Moton Museum (formerly Robert Russa Moton High School), Farmville, VA

  • First Baptist Church, Farmville, VA

  • Beulah African Methodist Episcopal Church, Farmville, VA

  • Virginia Commonwealth University, Cabell Library, Richmond, VA

  • Fuqua School (formerly Prince Edward Academy), Farmville, VA