Barbara Rose Johns

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[edit] Early life

Barbara Rose Johns was born in New York City, New York in 1935. Her family had roots in Prince Edward County, Virginia, and it was there that they lived together in Darlington Heights. Her mother worked in Washington D.C. for the U.S. Navy, and her father operated the farm upon which the family resided. The eldest of five children, Barbara had a younger sister; Joan Johns Cobbs, and three younger brothers; Ernest, Roderick who served in Vietnam as a dog handler, he was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. And also Robert.

Barbara’s uncle was the prominent Reverend Vernon Johns, an outspoken activist for civil rights. When he visited with Barbara and her family he would ask the children questions about black history.[1] This motivated Barbara and her siblings to study about the subjects their uncle asked them about. Barbara, as well as her siblings, were influenced by Reverend Johns and his outspoken nature.

[edit] Moton High School

While living Prince Edward County, Barbara received her education through segregated public schooling. In 1951, 16 year old Barbara was a junior at the all black Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia. Across town was another school; open exclusively to white schoolchildren. The resources available to each school, and the quality of the facilities were very unequal. Barbara’s school was designed and built to hold roughly 200 students, and by 1951 enrollment was twice that number.[2] According to a first person account from Barbara’s sister Ashlie:

In winter the school was very cold. And a lot of times we had to put on our jackets. Now, the students that sat closest to the wood stove were very warm and the ones who sat farthest away were very cold. And I remember being cold a lot of times and sitting in the classroom with my jacket on. When it rained, we would get water through the ceiling. So there were lots of pails sitting around the classroom. And sometimes we had to raise our umbrellas to keep the water off our heads. It was a very difficult setting for trying to learn.[1]

Parents of the black students appealed to the all-white school board to provide a larger and properly equipped facility. As a stopgap measure, the board erected several tar-paper shacks to handle the overflow of students.[2] Frustrated with the separate and highly unequal facilities, Barbara decided to take action.

[edit] Organizing the Strike and Filing Suit

Barbara met with several fellow classmates and they all agreed to help organize a student strike. On April 23rd[3] the plan Barbara initiated was put into action. The principal of the school was tricked into leaving by being told that some students were downtown causing trouble.[2] While the principal was away, Barbara Johns forged a memo from that principal telling all teachers to bring their classes to a special assembly. The teachers brought their classes and were then surprised to find young Barbara Johns standing on the stage. She delivered a speech revealing her plans for a student strike in protest of the unequal conditions of the black and white schools. The students agreed to participate, and on that day they marched down to the county courthouse to make officials aware of the large difference in quality between the white and black schools.[4]

While the strike was being carried out, Barbara and other fellow students sought legal counsel from the NAACP. The NAACP agreed to assist as long as the suit would be for an integrated school system, and not just equal facilities.[2] A month later, the NAACP filed Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County in federal court. The court upheld segregation in Prince Edward County, and the NAACP appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Davis v. Prince Edward County, along with four others cases, became part of the case Brown v. Board of Education. As Davis was the only case in Brown initiated by student protest, it is seen by some as the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.[5]

[edit] After the Strike and Until Death

Shortly after the strike Barbara’s parents, fearing for her safety, sent her to Montgomery, Alabama to live with her uncle.[1] After the strike, Barbara lived out the rest of her life in relative peace. She married Reverend William Powell and raised five children.[1] [6] Her commitment to education moved her to become a librarian, a profession she continued to hold until her death in 1991.

[edit] Activism Overlooked

Barbara Johns' contribution to civil rights is often overlooked due to the fact that she was a teenager when she made a difference. In the Pulitzer Prize-winning Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63, author Taylor Branch remarks upon Davis v. Prince Edward:

[T]he case remained muffled in white consciousness, and the schoolchild origins of the lawsuit were lost as well on nearly all Negroes outside Prince Edward County. ... The idea that non-adults of any race might play a leading role in political events had simply failed to register on anyone — except perhaps the Klansmen who burned a cross in the Johns' yard one night, and even then people thought their target might not have been Barbara but her notorious firebrand uncle.[7]

Teenage activism is an aspect of history worthy of remembrance and analysis.

[edit] Additional Reading

  • Branch, Taylor (1989). Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63. Touchstone. 
  • Smith, Bob (1966). They Closed Their Schools: Prince Edward County, Virginia 1951-1964. 

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d The History of Jim Crow (HTML). The History of Jim Crow. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
  2. ^ a b c d Richard Wormser. The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow.Jim Crow Stories.People.Barbara Johns (HTML). The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow. PBS. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
  3. ^ Farmville, Viginia - Separate is Not Equal (HTML). Separate is Not Equal Brown v. Board of Education. Smithsonian National Museuem of American History Behring Center. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
  4. ^ African American Registry" Students Protest Virginia segregated school! (HTML). The African American Registry. The African American Registry. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
  5. ^ "Remembering Barbara Johns" (HTML). Hampden Sydney College News & Events. Hampden Sydney College. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
  6. ^ Barbara Johns Biography (HTML). Biography. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
  7. ^ Bill Medic. Pro Youth Pages Black History blind spot (HTML). Pro Youth Pages. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.