Pippa Holloway, a historian and Chair in History at the University of Richmond, has been awarded funding from the National Park Service to research the history of public school desegregation in Prince Edward County, Virginia. Collaborating with VCU Professor Brian Daugherity, the project will focus on the Davis v. Prince Edward County lawsuit filed by the NAACP in 1951. This lawsuit was a result of Black students in Farmville, VA, going on strike to demand better school conditions, leading to a five-year school closure after officials refused to desegregate following the Brown v. Board decision.
Holloway’s research will explore the impacts of the school closure and examine how the case is commemorated today. The report aims to assist the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Park and the Robert Russa Moton Museum in managing cultural resources and identifying further research needs related to school desegregation in the county.
Holloway emphasizes the importance of community protests in achieving school desegregation, highlighting Virginia’s unique role in this history. She notes that the Davis case stands out among the five Brown cases as it originated from student demands for educational equity.
In addition to her work on desegregation, Holloway also studies disenfranchisement and sexuality and politics in the American South. Her recent book, “Living in Infamy: Felon Disfranchisement and the History of American Citizenship,” delves into these topics.
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