A classroom at a school for Black students in South Carolina in 1954

Gluekit (photo colorization); Rudolph Faircloth/AP Images

STANDARDS

Common Core: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, RH.6-8.9, RI.6-8.3, RI.6-8.4, RI.6-8.6, SL.6-8.1, SL.6-8.2, W.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.6, WHST.6-8.10

C3 (D2/6-8): Civ.1, Civ.2, Civ.6, Civ.9, Civ.12, His.2, His.3, His.4, His.5

NCSS: Time, continuity, and change; Individuals, groups, and institutions

Enjoy this free article courtesy of Junior Scholastic, the Social Studies classroom magazine for grades 68.

FLASHBACK

True Teens of History

This Student Helped Desegregate America’s Schools 

In 1951, a courageous protest by Barbara Johns led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling that declared segregated public schools illegaland changed the nation forever  

Courtesy of Joan Johns Cobbs

Behind a deep-purple curtain on the stage of her school’s auditorium, Barbara Johns, 16, stood waiting. What she was about to do could put herand her friends and familyin danger. But she wasn’t afraid. The curtain rose. A gasp rippled across the room as hundreds of studentsexpecting to see their principallooked up at her with surprise

It was the spring of 1951 in the rural community of Farmville, Virginia. At the time, African Americans like Barbara were often treated with hatred and bigotry. In the South, Jim Crow laws and customs prevented many Black people from exercising their right to vote and forced them to use separate public facilities, including parks, movie theaters, swimming pools, and water fountains (see "You Might Need to Know . . . ," below).

In Virginiaand 20 other statesBlack students and white students were also required to attend segregated schools. The schools reserved for Black kids and those for white kids were supposed to be equal, but they never were.

Barbara’s school, the all-Black Robert Russa Moton High School, for example, was literally falling apart. The ceilings were so cracked that Barbara and her classmates had to use umbrellas indoors when it rained. The toilets barely worked, and the one-story building had no gym, cafeteria, or science lab

The school was also severely overcrowded. It was built to hold 180 students, yet 450 were enrolled there. To create more space, some classes were held in a run-down bus in the parking lot or in shacks in the school­yard made of wood and paper

Meanwhile, the all-white Farmville High School just minutes from Moton had spacious classrooms, modern heating, and a real cafeteria.

When Moton parents and teachers complained to the school board, they were told that a new school would be built soon. It was clear, though, thatsoonwould probably never come.

How Kids Changed the World
A video about how kids helped desegregate businesses in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in the 1950s and ’60s

Growing Outrage

By all accounts, Barbara was a quiet, hardworking girl. She helped take care of her younger siblings and did chores on her family’s farm.  

But underneath her reserved demeanor was enormous strengthand growing outrage. She loved learning and was angry that she and her classmates didn’t have the school they deserved.

In the 1950s, it was dangerous for Black people to challenge white people. Yet Barbara wasn’t afraid. She believed it was up to her to do something to improve the conditions at her school. But what?

YOU MIGHT NEED TO KNOW...

©Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos

Separate water fountains for white people and Black people in North Carolina in 1950

Note: Once a standard term for African Americans, colored is now considered dated and offensive.

SEPARATE BUT EQUAL was the legal principle used to justify racial segregation. It allowed for separate public facilities for Black people and white people, as long as they were equal. In reality, they never were; those for white people were always superior

JIM CROW was the name for laws and customs that discriminated against African Americans in the South after the Civil War (1861-1865).

A Bold Plan

One night, an idea came to her: a strike. If students refused to go to class, the school board would have to do something, wouldn’t it

Barbara sought out a few students who she considered school leaders, and told them about her idea. Then, on April 23, 1951, they put her plan into action. First, a student called the school’s principal from a pay phone. Disguising his voice, he said that some Moton students were loitering downtown and had been stopped by the police. The principal reacted predictably. Black students in trouble with the all-white police force was a serious matter. He ran to his car and sped from the school.

When he was gone, students delivered notes calling for an assembly. Barbara had written the notes and signed themBJ—the way Principal Boyd Jones signed notes. Barbara shared those initials.

When the curtain rose to reveal Barbara onstage instead of the principal, everyone was shocked. Then she began to speak. She talked about the inferior conditions of their school. She talked about the school board’s refusal to give them proper funding. She talked about how hard it was to learn in this environment. “Are we just going to accept these conditions?” she asked. “Or are we going to do something?”

When her stirring speech was over, the entire student body walked out in peaceful protest.

Fighting for Equality
A video about the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s

The Fight of Her Life

After the walkout, the local newspaper ridiculed the students, accusing them of looking for an excuse to skip class. The superintendent threatened to fire teachers and the principal.

Yet the students held firm. Barbara even called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), an organization working for equality for African Americans. She persuaded two NAACP lawyers to come to Farmville. The lawyers agreed to help the students if they demanded integrationthat is, Black students and white students attending school togetherand if their parents supported them.

To Barbara, fighting for integra­tion was an unattainable goalit seemed like reaching for the moon.

Still, at a meeting attended by most of the Black community of Farmville, Barbara gave another, more rousing speech. The crowd erupted in joyous singingand teary eyes. After much discussion, the community got behind the effort.  

But the fight was just beginning. After the lawsuit was filed, Barbara received death threats and was harassed by the Ku Klux Klan, a racist organization that burned a cross in her yard. The teen’s parents were so fearful for her safety that they sent her to live with relatives in Alabama.

Slideshow

A Landmark Decision

What happened next exceeded all of Barbara’s expectations. The lawsuit went all the way to the highest court in the country, the U.S. Supreme Court, where it was bundled with similar lawsuits challenging segregated schools in other parts of the nation. The case became known as Brown v. Board of Education.

On May 17, 1954, in a momentous 9-0 decision, the Court ruled in Barbara’s favor, declaring segregated public schools unconstitutional. By then, Barbara was a college student in Georgia. When she heard the news, she shouted with joy.

But across the country, many white people reacted with anger. In Virginia, Barbara’s family home was burned to the ground, forcing her parents and younger siblings to move to Washington, D.C.

School Segregation Today

Nearly 65 years after the Brown ruling, many schools nationwide are still segregatedin practice, even if not by law. Experts say that’s largely because decades of discriminatory housing policies mean that Black people and white people tend to live in separate communities and, therefore, attend separate schools. 

An Act of Courage

Over the next few decades, school districts gradually accepted the ruling and began to desegregate. In 1988, school integration reached an all-time high: Nearly 45 percent of Black students in the South attended majority-white schools, up from 0 percent in 1954

Since then, however, progress has reversed. Today, the typical Black student attends a school where only 28 percent of his or her class­mates are white (see graphs, above).

Still, Barbara’s act of courage had a lasting impact on the nation, helping to fuel a wave of sit-ins, boycotts, and marches that led to major gains in equality for African Americans. In fact, Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders of the civil rights movement embraced nonviolent protests like Barbara’s as the best way to achieve equality

Over the years, Barbara’s story has not been widely told. But if you wander onto the Capitol grounds in Richmond, Virginia, you’ll find a statue honoring herand the Moton students. Engraved on the statue are Barbara’s words: “It seemed like reaching for the moon.” 

Write About It! Why might Barbara Johns have considered fighting for integration to belike reaching for the moon”? Explain.

Like what you see? Then you'll love Junior Scholastic, our Social Studies classroom magazine for grades 68.

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Fighting for Equality

A video about the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s

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How Kids Changed the World

A video about how kids helped desegregate businesses in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in the 1950s and ’60s

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