William Byrd Community House is pleased to announce the next lecture in its Hans S. Falck Lectureship on Social Responsibility Series entitled: Civil Rights and Race Relations in Virginia Public Education: A Case Study in Social Change. The Richmond Peace Education Center and VCU School of Social Work have joined with the William Byrd Community House as co-sponsors. (The VCU School of Social Work has approved the event for .2 CEUs.)
The lecture will confront the issue of integration and segregation in Virginia Schools in the 1950’s and 60’s by bringing together a panel of people who experienced firsthand the closing of Prince Edward County Public Schools during this tumultuous time.
When: Thursday, October 23, 2008
7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.
Where: St. Andrew’s School Auditorium
236 S Laurel St., Richmond, VA 23220
Pre-registration is not required. There is no charge for attendance. Participants may register for CEUS by completing a CEU registration form and making a check payable to the VCU School of Social Work in the amount of $15 on the evening of the event. No cash or credit cards will be accepted for this purpose.
For additional information and directions call: 804-643-2717 or visit the WBCH website at:
http://www.wbch.org/go/news/
Panelists:
Dr. Woody Holton - panel discussion moderator and author of Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution (New York: Hill and Wang, 2007), a finalist for the National Book Award . Dr. Holton is a 2008 Guggenheim Fellow and Associate Professor of History and American Studies at University of Richmond, Richmond, VA. A 2008 Guggenheim Fellow, he has taught Early American history at the University of Richmond since the fall of 2000.
Brian Grogan - producer of “They Closed our Schools,” a documentary film on the history of the public school crisis in Prince Edward County. Mr. Grogan is a graduate in history of Hampden-Sydney College (B.A., 1973). His knowledge of, and personal experience with, the historical events of the public schools crisis in Prince Edward County is extensive and provided the genesis for the film. He has been an invited speaker before the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission of the Virginia General Assembly on the history of the public schools crisis in Prince Edward County and the production of this documentary film.
Dorothy Holcomb - fourth grade student in Prince Edward County Public Schools when the schools closed in 1959. Dorothy Holcomb is currently Vice-President of the R.R. Moton Museum Board of Directors. This museum is the site of the 1951 student strike which led to the Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County. This case became a part of the historical landmark decision Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas which outlawed segregation in public schools for the entire country.
Dr. Teresa Clark - an elementary student, when Prince Edward County public schools were closed in1959. Dr. Clark is now Program Coordinator for the Social Work Program at Longwood University in Farmville, VA. Dr. Clark received her PhD in Social Work and Social Policy from Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Social Work, Richmond, VA.