Virginia is set to honor two civil rights pioneers with statues in the U.S. Capitol and in Richmond. Barbara Johns and Reuben Lawson were instrumental in challenging racial segregation and discrimination in the state and the nation.
Barbara Johns: A Student Leader for Equal Education
Barbara Johns was a 16-year-old junior at the all-black Moton High School in Farmville, Prince Edward County, in 1951. She was fed up with the overcrowded and dilapidated conditions of her school, which contrasted sharply with the well-equipped and spacious school for white students across town. She decided to take action and organized a student strike to demand a new building.
Her protest caught the attention of the NAACP, which agreed to represent the students in a lawsuit against the county school board. The case, known as Davis v. Prince Edward County, was one of the five cases that were consolidated into the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954. The ruling declared that “separate but equal” public schools were unconstitutional and ordered the desegregation of schools across the country.
However, Johns’ courage came at a high price. She received death threats and had to finish high school out of state. Her family’s house was burned to the ground. And the county defied the court order and closed its public schools for five years rather than integrate them. Many black students were denied education during this period, while white students attended private schools.
Johns died in 1991 at the age of 56, but her legacy lives on. She has been recognized by the state of Virginia with a sketch in the governor’s mansion, a statue in the Capitol grounds, and a building named after her. And soon, she will be honored with a statue in the U.S. Capitol, replacing the one of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, who led the rebellion against the United States during the Civil War. Johns will be the first black woman to represent Virginia in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall.
Reuben Lawson: A Legal Champion for Civil Rights
Reuben Lawson was a prominent lawyer and civil rights activist in Virginia. He was born in 1913 in Roanoke and graduated from Howard University Law School in 1938. He opened his law practice in Roanoke and became one of the few black attorneys in the state.
He was involved in several cases that challenged racial discrimination and segregation in Virginia. In 1946, he argued the case Ingram v. Virginia, which addressed the exclusion of blacks as jurors in state cases. He won the case and secured the right of blacks to serve on juries.
He also served as an attorney for the NAACP, arguing several school desegregation cases in Southwest Virginia in the 1950s and 1960s. He represented black students and parents who sought equal educational opportunities and facilities. He faced hostility and resistance from the white establishment, but he persevered and achieved some victories.
Lawson died in 1995 at the age of 82, but his contributions to the civil rights movement have not been forgotten. He has been honored by the state of Virginia with a historical marker in Roanoke and a portrait in the Capitol. And soon, he will be honored with a statue in Richmond, the state capital, as part of a project to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in Virginia.
A Tribute to the Unsung Heroes of Civil Rights
The statues of Barbara Johns and Reuben Lawson are part of a larger effort to recognize and celebrate the unsung heroes of the civil rights movement in Virginia and the nation. They are also a reminder of the ongoing struggle for racial justice and equality in the United States.
The statues are expected to be unveiled later this year, after the approval of the state legislature and the governor. They will join the statues of other civil rights icons, such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and John Lewis, in the halls of the U.S. Capitol and the state Capitol.
The statues will also serve as an inspiration for the current and future generations of Americans, who can learn from the courage, perseverance, and vision of Barbara Johns and Reuben Lawson.
