Fifth Congressional District Rep. Tom Garrett (R-Va.) introduced a bill Monday to proclaim April 23 “Barbara Johns Day” to commemorate a Virginian involved with the Civil Rights Movement.
The bill was presented to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in the House of Representatives. Reps. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Dave Brat (R-Va.) and Scott Taylor, (R-Va.) were noted as cosponsors.
The intent of the proposed legislation is “to highlight the important role Ms. Barbara Rose John (Powell) played in the Civil Rights Movement, in Brown v. Board of Education and the desegregation of schools, and her role in the history of the United States and the lives of United States citizens,” according to the bill’s text.
The proposed resolution also calls upon American citizens to “consider the role and impact of students in American history.”
Johns is known for her actions as a student at the former Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville, Va. On April 23, 1951, she organized a school walk-out group that protested in favor of a new school.
The walk-out group proposed that a new facility was necessary for full integration. Johns said she planned the walk-out to protest the poor state of facilities designated for black students, while schools for white students had nicer features such as science laboratories and a separate gym.
The protesting students stayed out of school until May 7, 1951. Their public outcry was heard, so much so that Martin Luther King, Jr. visited Prince Edward County in 1962, and President John F. Kennedy brought up the matter in support of a civil rights address to Congress in 1963.
The case was eventually combined with several others from around the nation in Brown v. Board of Education, which legally mandated the desegregation of public schools. Today, the school remains as the Moton Museum, in memory of the historic strike.
This was the “largest and only student-initiated case consolidated into Brown v. Board of Education,” according to the bill.
Garrett said Johns’s actions should be admired through the establishment of a day in memory of her efforts.
“Barbara Johns embodies everything that we value as both Virginians and Americans. Real courage by a 16-year-old girl who sought to change a clear injustice is something we should admire and remember,” Garrett said in a release. “Designation of this day will preserve her legacy and serve as a reminder that we should always strive to stand for what's right, even in the face of adversity.”
Because the proposal is a simple resolution, it only needs to pass the House of Representatives to take effect.
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