Robert Russa Moton High School

The Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia, was built in 1939 to accommodate 180 students. It was the first public school for black students in Prince Edward County. The school had no gymnasium, no cafeteria, no science laboratories, and no athletic field. A decade later, the county constructed several freestanding buildings, made of plywood and tar paper, to accommodate a student population of more than 400. The buildings had no plumbing and were heated by wooden stoves. In 1951, students at the school, led by Barbara Johns, went on strike demanding a new building with better facilities. The Richmond Times-Dispatch published this photograph of the shoddily constructed building in its coverage of the events, identifying the photograph as: "Tarpaper Building, a Moton School Unit, to Which Striking Pupils Object."