The Day Moton Walked Out
The idea: a sixteen-year-old asked for a roof that did not leak and was told to ask for something much bigger.
Read it
Who is in this book
- Tara a child of the Green Listens longest, speaks last
Every recurring character has a short tune, so you can tell who is on stage before a word is said. The tunes play only when you tap, and the Reading Access sound switch turns them off.
The Honest Page
Which parts of this story are on record, which are legend — and what does nobody know?
Record
- Barbara Rose Johns, born on 6 March 1935, led a walkout of students at Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia, on 23 April 1951. She was sixteen. Source
- The students' protest led to Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, one of the five cases decided together as Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Source
- Prince Edward County closed its public schools from 1959 to 1964 rather than integrate them. Source
- The former school is now the Robert Russa Moton Museum, a National Historic Landmark. Source
- In 2020 a Virginia commission chose Barbara Johns to replace the statue of Robert E. Lee that represented Virginia in the US Capitol. Source
Legend
- That the walkout happened on the spur of the moment. Barbara and a small group planned it for months, including the phone call that drew the principal away. Source
Nobody knows
- The exact words of the teacher who asked Barbara why she did not do something. They come only from Barbara's later account. Source
Tara’s sentence
The case stops where Tara speaks. Write the sentence you would have said. It stays on this device.
Kept.
Your sentence lives on this device. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Ring the hammer for someone
Pick this book for someone younger. The link carries only the book, and it will wait for them on the Green.