Barbara Rose Johns (1935-1991) was an African American rights activist who campaigned for integration at her school in 1951, when she was 16.

Early life

Barbara Rose Johns was born in New York City, New York in 1935. Her family had roots in Prince Edward County, Virginia, and it was there that they lived together in Darlington Heights. Her mother worked in Washington D.C. for the U.S. Navy, and her father operated the farm upon which the family resided. The eldest of five children, Barbara had a younger sister, Joan Johns Cobbs, and three younger brothers: Ernest, Roderick, who served in Vietnam as a dog handler and was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, and Robert.

Barbara?s uncle was the prominent Reverend Vernon Johns, an outspoken activist for civil rights. When he visited with Barbara and her family he would ask the children questions about black history.^[1] This motivated Barbara and her siblings to study black history, and Barbara, as well as her siblings, were influenced by Reverend Johns and his outspoken nature.

Moton High School

While living Prince Edward County, Barbara received her education through segregated public schooling. In 1951, 16 year old Barbara was a junior at the all black Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia. Across town was another school; open exclusively to white schoolchildren. The resources available to each school, and the quality of the facilities were very unequal. Barbara?s school was designed and built to hold roughly 200 students, and by 1951 enrollment was twice that number.^[2] According to a first person account from Barbara?s sister Ashlie:

In winter the school was very cold. And a lot of times we had to put on our jackets. Now, the students that sat closest to the wood stove were very warm and the ones who sat farthest away were very cold. And I remember being cold a lot of times and sitting in the classroom with my jacket on. When it rained, we would get water through the ceiling. So there were lots of pails sitting around the classroom. And sometimes we had to raise our umbrellas to keep the water off our heads. It was a very difficult setting for trying to learn.^[1]

Organizing the Strike and Filing Suit

Barbara met with several fellow classmates and they all agreed to help organize a student strike. On April 23rd^[3] the plan Barbara initiated was put into action. The principal of the school was tricked into leaving by being told that some students were downtown causing trouble.^[2] While the principal was away, Barbara Johns forged a memo from that principal telling all teachers to bring their classes to a special assembly. The teachers brought their classes and were then surprised to find young Barbara Johns standing on the stage. She delivered a speech revealing her plans for a student strike in protest of the unequal conditions of the black and white schools. The students agreed to participate, and on that day they marched down to the county courthouse to make officials aware of the large difference in quality between the white and black schools.^[4]

While the strike was being carried out, Barbara and other fellow students sought legal counsel from the NAACP. The NAACP agreed to assist as long as the suit would be for an integrated school system, and not just equal facilities.^[2] A month later, the NAACP filed Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County in federal court. The court upheld segregation in Prince Edward County, and the NAACP appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Davis v. Prince Edward County, along with four others cases, became part of the case Brown v. Board of Education. As Davis was the only case in Brown initiated by student protest, it is seen by some as the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.^[5]

After the Strike and Until Death

Shortly after the strike Barbara?s parents, fearing for her safety, sent her to Montgomery, Alabama to live with her uncle.^[1] After the strike, Barbara lived out the rest of her life in relative peace. She married Reverend William Powell and raised five children.^{[1] [6]} Her commitment to education moved her to become a librarian, a profession she continued to hold until her death in 1991.

Activism Overlooked

Barbara Johns' contribution to civil rights is often overlooked due to the fact that she was a teenager when she made a difference. In the Pulitzer Prize-winning Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63, author Taylor Branch remarks upon Davis v. Prince Edward:

The case remained muffled in white consciousness, and the schoolchild origins of the lawsuit were lost as well on nearly all Negroes outside Prince Edward County. ... The idea that non-adults of any race might play a leading role in political events had simply failed to register on anyone ? except perhaps the Klansmen who burned a cross in the Johns' yard one night, and even then people thought their target might not have been Barbara but her notorious firebrand uncle.^[7]

Additional Reading

External links

• Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition - Who Was Barbara Johns?
• Separate But Unequal: How a Student-Led Protest Helped Change the Nation. National Public Radio

See also

• Claudette Colvin

References