In 1896, the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the “separate but equal” doctrine. Black and white people could have a “separate but equal” way of living. The ruling never was a reality. In every facet of life Black people were despairingly poor. Education was heartbreakingly so. Always, there were Black teachers who strove to instill in the students a sense of their self-worth despite a socio-economic system that functioned to drill into black minds—young and old that intelligence and advancement in life was not to be for them.
A student who had been born in New York City was sent to Farmville, Virginia to live with her grandmother and attend school in this southern town. By the time Barbara Rose Johns entered high school, she was growing weary of the delipidated facilities. The high school housed 450 students and was probably built to house only a third of that number. There was no cafeteria, no gymnasium, no science labs. The school board had been asked to build a new facility. The result was additional shelter constructed of plywood and tar paper with no heating or plumbing. When the winter came, students put on their coats and teachers held classes in a school bus for warmth. Rain necessitated the use of umbrellas in the classrooms of the building because the roof leaked unmercifully.
When sixteen-year-old Barbara Rose Johns complained about the situation, her teacher flippantly said, “Why don’t you do something about it?” Defeatist attitude and the right question given to a frustrated student who wanted to learn under good conditions. The teenager took her concern to the student council and sought their advice on options to remedy the plight of education (or lack thereof) for Black students. A plan for a student strike was proposed. Secretly the plans were made, and the student body at large was informed of a special assembly. A decoy plan was made to get the principal out of the school. The students assembled the next day and marched through the town to the superintendent’s office. The result was that parents were threatened with loss of employment and jail. Crosses were burned on the Barbara John’s family farm; the family shipped her to Alabama to live with relatives for her safety. NAACP lawyers agreed to take the case if they would be permitted to argue against segregation, not new facilities.
In the Virginia federal court, the case was labeled Davis v. Edward. In 1954, this case became one of five cases argued before the U.S. Supreme Court under the name Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka when the court ruled that “separate but equal” was unconstitutional. Thurgood Marshall was among lawyers arguing the case. Barbara Rose Johns was a teenage civil rights activist who affected critical change in this nation.
Barbara Rose Johns led a quiet life thereafter. After high school, she completed her undergraduate work at Spellman College and later a master’s degree in library science from Drexel University in Philadelphia. She married Rev. William Powell and raised five children. She worked as a librarian in the Philadelphia school system. A statue of Barbara Rose Johns is in the U.S. Capital to represent Virginia.
Barbara Rose Johns was a comet activist who flared brilliantly and critically for equal education!
Reflections
- Do you recall standing up for anything prior to your 18th birthday? Explain and give your reasons for doing so.
- What issues do you support today? How? Give the reason for your passions about these issues.
- What issues do teenagers face today that may affect their lives in the future?
Dorothy Watson Tatem, D.Min., ACC
Senior Associate
Next Step Associates, LLC
Cassandra W. Jones, Ed.D.
CEO & President
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