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Separate But Not Equal:
Race, Education, and
Prince Edward County, Virginia

Photographs of Black and White Schools,
Prince Edward County, Virginia -- 1961-1963

[All photographs and manuscripts are the copyright property of Edward H. Peeples. All rights reserved. You may view the images via a Web browser, and you may print or electronically save one copy for your non-commercial, personal viewing, but you may not otherwise copy or display these photographs.]

Click on each photograph for a larger image

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First Rock Elementary School for blacks -- the main building shown on the right was used for grades 1,4-5. Had pupil capacity of 120; built in 1939. "Temporary" building in foreground on the left was used for grades 2-3. This was a frame building covered with roofing paper built in 1949 and had a pupil capacity of 40. The building had no windows. Privy and another building can be seen in the background. The structures that made up First Rock had no steam/water heat and no indoor plumbing.

Click here for more images of Black Elementary Schools

Darlington Heights Elementary School for whites, side and rear view, built in 1927. An addition to the structure was built in 1937. Pupil capacity was 200; used for grades 1-7; had steam or hot water heat and indoor plumbing.

Click here for more images of White Elementary Schools

To view all the images visit this
Directory of Prince Edward County School Images, 1961-1963.
Follow the link to view the
Directory of Contemporary Images Prince Edward County, Virginia
1988-2003, taken by Dr. Edward H. Peeples, Jr.

These images of black and white schools were taken by Dr. Edward H. Peeples, Jr. from 1961 through 1963 while Peeples attended the University of Pennsylvania. He would venture south to Virginia, staying a week at time in Farmville, the county seat of Prince Edward County, conducting his research for his thesis "A Perspective of the Prince Edward County School Issue" (1963). In addition to taking images of the public schools, Dr. Peeples also took images of the White Private Schools that were set up in the county after the public schools did not open in 1959. All the information presented here about the schools is taken from Dr. Peeples' research at the time. From 1961-1963, Peeples photographed most of the Prince Edward County schools that had been in use before the schools failed to open in 1959.
These images of the schools illustrate the differences between the resources that the county provided for its black students compared to its white students. According to Peeples' research, in 1951 all but one of the 15 black school buildings were wooden frame structures with no indoor toilet facilities, and had either wood, coal, or kerosene stoves for heat (one additional brick school building was built for blacks in 1953). These 15 black schools had a property value of $329,000. All the white schools were made of brick, had indoor toilets, with steam or hot water heat. The property value of the these 7 white schools was $1.2 million. The county spent $195 per capita for black students while spending $317 for white students.
These pages are divided up into different sections -- black schools, white schools, private schools. To view all the images that Dr. Peeples took of Prince Edward County, from 1961-1963, visit this Directory of Prince Edward County School Images.

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Robert R. Moton High School (its name in 1962) for blacks viewed from the east. Lock and chains blocking the driveway are seen in the foreground. The school was built in 1953, two years after the boycott by students at the originial Moton High School. This building had a pupil capacity of 650 and served grades 8-12. It was one of only two schools for blacks in the county to have indoor plumbing and either steam/hot water heat.

Images of Moton High School

Farmville High School for whites (the county's other public high school for whites was Worsham High). Farmville, 1st Avenue and School Streets. Front view. This building included an auditorium and gym. Built in 1927 (with an addition in 1937) it served grades 8-12 with a pupil capacity of 350. It had both indoor plumbing and either steam or hot water heat.

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address>Updated Friday, April 30, 2004
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