Prince Edward County, Virginia, closed all of its schools in 1959 rather than integrate in accordance with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional. The white citizens in the county formed a private all-white academy where their children could continue their education. African-American students were not provided public education until 1963. The Reverend Leslie Francis Griffin, a member of the NAACP and the chairman of the Moton High School P.T.A., petitioned President John F. Kennedy for support from the federal government to prepare the African-American students for re-entering the public schools. As a result, the Prince Edward County Free School System was created. Shown are students entering entering the "free school," Mary E. Branch School, in Farmville, Va., in 1963.
O'Halloran, Thomas J., "African American school children entering the Mary E. Branch School at S. Main Street and Griffin Boulevard, Farmville, Prince Edward County, Virginia," 16 September 1963. Courtesy of Library of Congress
