A Microhistory of Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1951-1964: Civil Rights Curriculum for Virginia’s Secondary Educators

Abstract

In 2010, the National Assessment of Educational Progress found that 2 percent of high school seniors could answer questions about Brown v. Board of Education correctly. These results point to serious issues in the way the Civil Rights Movement is taught; civil rights curriculum typically adheres to the “Master Narrative” of which symbolic heroes dominate lessons, and the actions of ordinary people are overlooked. It has failed students and educators. “A Microhistory of Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1951-1964: Civil Rights Curriculum for Virginia’s Secondary Educators,” strives to combat the Master Narrative by placing ordinary people, with a focus on children, at the forefront of civil rights curriculum. No free curriculum for secondary educators and students detailing the events in Prince Edward County from 1951-1964 exists; this curriculum will fill in a gap evident in the historiography of the topic and contest misconceptions and misunderstandings surrounding Brown v. Board and the Civil Rights Movement. Freedom School pedagogy, outlined by John N. Hale in “The Freedom Schools, the Civil Rights Movement, and Refocusing the Goals of American Education” and Candace Epps-Robertson in Resisting Brown: Race, Literacy, and Citizenship in the Heart of Virginia, are paired with Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) Standards of Learning (SOLs) for Virginia and United States History (VUS), VDOE learning objectives for African American History (AAH), and VDOE’s Five C’s to ensure the curriculum reflects Virginia state standards, learning objectives, and competencies, and adheres to culturally responsive pedagogy geared towards primary source analysis, citizenship, creativity, problem solving, and community building.