Mary E. Branch School in Farmville

Children enter the Mary E. Branch School in Farmville on September 16, 1963, some to attend their first formal classes since 1959, when the Prince Edward County school board closed the public schools rather than integrate them. This was also referred to as Free School No. 2—one of three local school buildings leased for a year by the Prince Edward Free School Association with the support of the Kennedy administration and private funds.