Editing Farmville, Virginia (section)

===''Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County''===
[[File:Robert Russa Moton High School, Farmville, VA.JPG|thumb|left|Robert Russa Moton High School, Farmville, VA]]
Farmville and Prince Edward County Public Schools were the source of ''[[Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County]]'' (1952–54), a case incorporated into ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' (1954), the landmark case that overturned [[school segregation]] in the United States. Among the cases consolidated into the ''Brown'' decision, the ''Davis'' case was the only one involving student protests.

[[R.R. Moton High School]], an all-black school in Farmville named for [[Robert Russa Moton]], suffered from terrible conditions due to underfunding by white officials in the segregated state. The school did not have a gymnasium, [[cafeteria]], or teachers' restrooms. Teachers and students did not have desks or blackboards, and due to overcrowding, some students had to take classes in a school bus parked outside. The school's requests for additional funds were denied by the all-white school board. Students had protested against the poor conditions.

As a result of the ''Brown'' decision, in 1959 the Board of Supervisors for Prince Edward County refused to appropriate any funds for the County School Board; in massive resistance, it effectively closed all public schools rather than integrate them. Wealthy white students usually attended all-white private schools ([[segregation academy|segregation academies]]) that formed in response. Black and poorer white students had to go to school elsewhere or forgo their education altogether. Prince Edward County's public schools remained closed for ten years. When they finally reopened, the system was fully integrated.

Prince Edward Academy was the longest-surviving of the segregation academies, still teaching students in 2019.  Although technically integrated at that point, the school had few students of color. Prince Edward Academy was renamed the [[Fuqua School]] in honor of [[J. B. Fuqua]], a wealthy businessman who was raised nearby and who has endowed the school.

The former R.R. Moton High School building was designated as a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1998 for its significance to the [[Civil Rights Movement]]. It houses the [[Robert Russa Moton Museum]], a center for the study of [[civil rights]] in education.<ref>[http://www.motonmuseum.com/events/19980831.html], Moton Museum official website  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509171228/http://www.motonmuseum.com/events/19980831.html|date=May 9, 2008}}</ref> In 2015, [[Longwood University]] and Moton Museum entered into a formal affiliation to advance understanding of the history of the struggle for civil rights.