Resilience Amid Resistance

History Made by Students—History Told by Students

May 17, 2025 – September 20, 2025

Now in its tenth year, the Farmville Tour Guides Project, a student-led independent study in Rockingham County high schools, has long served as a powerful platform for students to explore the legacy of the 1951 Moton Student Strike. Led by 16-year-old Barbara Johns, the strike was a bold protest against the overcrowded, underfunded, and segregated conditions at Robert Russa Moton High School in Prince Edward County. That walkout led to Davis v. County School Board, one of the five cases that ultimately became Brown v. Board of Education.

Yet even after the Brown decision, Virginia remained a battleground for resistance. Prince Edward County chose to shut down its entire public school system for five years rather than integrate. Among the families forced to leave was that of Sam Ewell, former assistant principal at Moton. The Ewells relocated to Harrisonburg, where in 1964 they became one of the first Black families to desegregate Rockingham County Public Schools.

Sixty years later, the stories of Barbara Johns, the Ewell family, and the federal court decisions issued in Harrisonburg are converging in a single, student-curated museum exhibit. The four chapters within this 21-panel exhibit reflect both the local and statewide dimensions of the struggle for educational justice.

Reconstruction, created by Turner Ashby High School Students.

The Brown Decision, created by East Rockingham High School Students.

Massive Resistance, created by Spotswood High School Students.

Local Desegregation, created by Broadway High School Students.

Students developed this exhibition by grappling with three central questions:

  • What is public history, and how is it created?
  • What stories have been silenced or omitted from our local history?
  • How can public history serve as a tool to confront and counter those omissions?

These questions guided their deep dive into civil rights history through site visits to Rocktown History and the Moton Museum in Farmville, as well as interviews with historians, museum professionals, and individuals directly connected to the events being studied. Their research shaped every element of the final exhibit—from the written narratives and selected photographs to the design choices, color schemes, and layout of each interpretive panel.

This isn’t just a school project. It’s a civic act—one that asks students to step into the public square, take ownership of their community’s history, and ensure that its full story is told with honesty, integrity, and purpose.

This exhibit was made possible by the support of Rocktown History donors and a generous grant from the Douglas Guynn Charitable Fund of the Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge.