I think a lot of people believe it is Just One Court case. Thats what i thought of it as. Growing up. And i also think that people believe that as soon as the decision was handed down by the Supreme Court in 1954, that it was immediately implement it. That also is not true. What i learned working on research for the book was that Prince Edward county that only was affected by the education decision but it was also one of five cases that was rolled into an umbrella case. And the the reason this was part of the decision was a woman, a High School Junior and did a walk out. In 1951. That walk out capture the attention of the naacp attorneys in richmond. And they agreed to come meet with Barbara Johns and fellow students and their parents. But that decision led the naacp to take up the case and file a lawsuit on behalf of those residents and made it to the Supreme Court. That part of brown versus education and it was the only student led case out of the five. And county leaders were so stunned by the decision as were virginia leaders and leaders across the south and the country. But i think Prince Edward county leaders particularly felt embarrassed and particularly nervous that they would be held up of an example and enforced to immigrate before committees across the nation did. And so they really took measures the other communities did not see as necessary. To prevent them from having to integrate their schools. And they began conversations very early about what they would do if they were put in the position that they would have to desegregate their schools. So within six month of decision being handed down, the white one newspaper was calling for Community Leaders to do anything but desegregate their schools and said, you know if push came to shove that they should shut the schools rather than desegregate them. And so you know, right out the gate, white leaders in that community were calling for these drastic measures to avoid desegregation. Chris albert county is in the heart of virginia. They are located about an hour and 15 minutes south west of richmond. The demographics in the era of the School Walkout in this case, were pretty equal. It was pretty much 5050 blackandwhite. And some people believe that it is part of what led to this pushback by white members, not to desegregate the schools and instead to close schools. There is a belief that because the black population of Prince Edward county was higher than it was in other parts of the state, perhaps white leaders felt threatened and felt they needed to do more to control blacks. Leaders, white leaders were pretty upset about the walkout. I think they were embarrassed. And white leaders had refused to provide a better school, a Bigger School for black students and families for so long. They found these measures like the tarpaper shacks that were really stopgap measures and would not appropriate. When the case went to the courts, white leaders decided to move ahead with building a new school, new black high school. For black students and i think that they hoped that this would you know, put a stop to the lawsuit and you know, detract attention from them. I think the plan was you know if they built this New High School than the black families would get what they wanted and the lawsuit would go away. So it was not until the summer of 1959 that the order was handed down for Prince Edward county to finally desegregate schools. At that point calculated were prepared. They had in recent years, they had gone to a monthtomonth funding system. So if they needed to shut down schools they could do it at a moments notice. And so you know they had been preparing this idea for having private schools and Church Basements and social holes and they had gone pledges, many from white members of the community. So they were really ready to go when this happened. And so as a promise, did exactly what they suggested they would do and county leaders voted not to fund public education. Which essentially shut the schools. And so white leaders launched into action trying to make the pledges become real dollars. And setting up to find churches and social holes all over the county. By white children to be educated so they would not have to miss a single day of school. I think black Community Members and leaders were really taken off guard. When white leaders voted to close the schools. They just, they viewed it as a threat. They did not think anybody would really go through that. Answer even after the vote was taken, naacp attorneys roy aquino the schools are not closed, they are not going to do this. And so there was a real sense that this was not going to be the reality, right . That was part of the problem. The other problem was that you know, there is no way for anybody to understand how long the schools would be closed. Certainly no one imagined they would be closed in more than a year. Even if they did eventually see the being closed it was hard for anybody to imagine them being closed for more than a year. So the schools ended up being closed for five school for five full school years. Emily is not able to send their kids anywhere during that time. So some of the local churches and offered Training Centers in the basement of the churches. And they really were not schools, they were not meant to be schools because there were this idea floated by the White Community that a private school should be open for the black children just like that done for the white children. But the black leaders knew that would work against their cause and desegregation. They shut that down quickly. The Training Centers were more a way to keep children engaged. That they were not meant to be a full school day and they were taught by volunteers. So that was an option for some kids. There were, there are so many examples of what people did buy some children was achildren were snuk across county lines. One man rented a house in an adjacent county. He made it look like they lived there and would drop his kids off behind the house every day. He had instructed the children not to enter the house until they heard the bus coming down the county road. In early then when they were to offer the back of the house into the front and get into the school bus and never go there to tell anyone that they didnt live there because he knew that education was at stake. And when that work successfully, he invited some of his friends to drop the children off there. But he soon, 21 kids were getting on the bus there. And the bus driver would just laugh and say there is no way you guys are all siblings. A lot of them were in the same grade. It is clear they were not blood relatives but this is one way that some kids get educated. There were a lot of other kids that went to live with relatives elsewhere, especially in the north. At one point the quakers got involved in offered to match children with families elsewhere in the us. And for some of the students, they went to live with white families in ohio. There were really a wide range of things in ways that families dealt with this. But the vast majority of children were not educated and those who were old enough argument to work in the field with their parents typically picking tobacco because you know that more and spend more money. And a lot of the kids were old enough to work never returned to school. So the whole time that the schools were closed court cases were making their way through the system. And i think black members of the community and naacp attorneys really had high hopes that the canadian ministration would quickly resolve this issue. And i think the kennedys forces the kennedys and spoke specifically about Prince Edward. But he found once he was in office he really have to go to the court system as well. And he and the attorney general, Robert F Kennedy were met with a lot of frustration away. And finally john f. Kennedy told his brother that you have to do something about Prince Edward. We have to address this in some way. And so Robert Kennedy appointed one of his assistant attorney general to come to Prince Edward and come up with a solution. And they did come up with a solution for 50 schools were going to be close. They were audible to open preschools funded with foundation money, donations. And it would be an integrated school and integrated board that saw it. And many teachers from new york and around the country are predicament and teach and they did a really innovative teaching styles kids are grouped according to ability and there were not grouped by age but rather by ability. So as i caught up on certain subjects they could move. But this you know, this provided a solution and they were able to get county officials to agree to let them use certain public buildings. In order to do this and to use some of the Public School systems buses. Thats what the 50 or look like. And while schools opened during the fifth year, a Supreme Court decision was handed down that actually required that schools be funded and that is what led to schools finally reopening. They had to reopen and be integrated. And so, you know but with white schools still in place and becoming more permanent by the moment, during the fiveyear period, schools went from being just in a Church Basement to a building being built for high schools and plans to have permanent buildings for k12. And so when the schools did reopen there were very few white students in attendance. And they reopen the black high school and exactly where it had been and it was now open. So i grew up in Prince Edward county virginia. And my family is all from there. And i attended the White Academy which is called Prince Edward account aPrince Edward academy at the time. My parents are both sent to the rotary clubs to tense one of the book graduating and moving back and deciding to raise me and my three brothers there and decided to send us to the academy which was still segregated. So i grew up there in spite of the rich history, in the midst of brown vs. Board of education, the walkout, the only community in the nation to push back to best buy closing schools for five years. And not knowing the story. Not knowing that. Its just something that was not taught in the private school and friends a Public School site wasnt taught there either. It was part of a denial. A history, right . I think a lot of white leaders feel like they have said they are sorry. You know what more can we do . There is a desire to push the history under the rug because it is painful. And i think in so many of the black families i spoke with, students who were shut out of school, you know they really havent talked about this with their only siblings. Siblings had never sit down at the table and said what did you do while schools were closed . I remember i was sent here to live with an aunt but what was your life like . Because siblings had different experiences based on how old they were and whether the parents could afford to send more than one child away and their age. So it was also a story that black families didnt really want to talk about because they were still so raw about it. It was so painful. I also want them to understand that it is okay to confront this hidden history. This shameful part of our history and to really grapple with it. And that is something that we have to do as a country to be able to move forward. In 1741, st. Johns church was the first church in the city of richmond. It gained notoriety in march 1775 when the Second Virginia Convention was held there. And attended by colonial leaders and future founders, George Washington and thomas jefferson. It was here that Patrick Henry gave his famous give me liberty or give me death speech. Which helped spark the beginning of the american revolution. We continue our ec