Spring Break
Looking back on years
when diversity was rare
RANT
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Such diversity helps to close off the narrow-mindedness that is associated with racial stereotypes.
Differences, not only in culture, but also in appearance, are more likely to be accepted here because there isn’t a fear of racial misunderstandings.
Such diversity, however, wasn’t always the case in this area, or the country as a whole.
Yesterday, black and white residents of Prince Edward County in Virginia came together and clapped their hands and sang hymns to recount a time, 50 years ago, when such a meeting of two races was unfathomable.
Segregation was a reality in 1951, and during this time, the end of that reality didn’t seem to be anywhere in sight.
In Farmville, Virginia, school officials crowded 450 black students into a school built to hold 180.
But, in 1951, the students of Moton High School had had enough degradation.
They were tired of the old school buses they had to ride.
They were tired of reading books that were falling apart.
They were tired of not having science labs.
And they were tired of tarpaper annexations that served as classrooms.
They wanted better facilities. They wanted a new school.
They wanted equal treatment.
The students banded together and marched out of Moton High School to the county courthouse to vent their complaints and frustrations.
The school superintendent, however, told the students their parents would be fired from their jobs and arrested if they continued to protest.
In further opposition to the protest, members of the county school board, rather than integrating its schools, shut down the public schools for five years. In doing so, black parents were forced to educate their children.
Hope finally seemed possible in 1954 when one of the Moton High School protesters became one of four main plaintiffs in the landmark case Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.
The Supreme Court case ruled that segregation was unconstitutional.
The state of Virginia, however, decided to ignore the Supreme Court’s decision by establishing Massive Resistance, in which the General Assembly of Virginia enacted its principles of Confederacy. In doing so, Virginia did not follow the Supreme Court’s decision, but enacted state legislation that gave it the power it needed to shut down the public schools, rather than give in to desegregation.
Massive Resistance failed in 1959 because of federal and state rulings.
For five more years, despite the collapse of Massive Resistance, Prince Edward County continued to lock out black students, while the county’s white students, with financial backing from state funds, attended a private school.
Finally, in 1964, federal courts ruled that Prince Edward County must integrate its schools.
The struggle for equality and desegregation was long and hard. I’m sure those involved in getting the schools of Prince Edward County desegregated thought about giving in because their hope was fading away.
But they didn’t.
I certainly can’t understand how segregation could be a reality in this country.
Most of my friends at this school aren’t of the same ethnic background that I am.
Without such diversity in my life, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to learn about different cultures.
Residents and students of Prince Edward County were denied such a privilege.
Hate and fear replaced understanding and acceptance.
Hate and fear are two emotions I hope I will never encounter when it comes to the issue of accepting racial diversity.
I’m glad the racial barriers have been broken down in this country for the most part, because if they weren’t, the diversity created by more than half the population at this school would cease to exist.
Tiffani Analla is the
Spartan Daily
Assistant A & E Editor.
“Rant” appears Fridays.
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