Monday, April 23rd, 1951: The Walk Out
On April 23, 1951, Barbara Johns, a 16-year-old student at Robert Russa Moton High School, led a student strike to protest the poor conditions of her school. Leading up to the strike, Johns worked with a small group of trusted classmates to secretly organize a walkout. These students tricked the principal into leaving and called an emergency assembly, where John gave a powerful speech, encouraging 400 students to walk out and refuse to return until conditions improved. They demanded a better school building, equal treatment, and justice. The protest lasted for two weeks and even drew national media attention.
Moton High School Student Organizers
Barbara Johns : Strike Leader
Photo Courtesy of The Moton Museum (https://motonschoolstory.org/gallery-ii/)
John Watson: Strike Leader
Photo Courtesy of The Moton Museum (https://motonschoolstory.org/gallery-ii/)
Letter Courtesy of The Moton Museum (https://motonschoolstory.org/gallery-ii/)
Letter from Carrie Stokes and Barbara Johns to Oliver Hill and Spottswood Robinson
Photo Courtesy of Richmond-Times Dispatch April 1951
Photo Courtesy of Hank Walker/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Each of the students named in the lawsuit against the Prince Edward County School Board in May of 1951
https://www.virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=RNL19510425.1.6
Excerpt from The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow (WNET, 2002): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pch99FHQQ8.