Education Law

The Norfolk 17

Everyone knows about the Little Rock Nine who walked across racial lines to go to school. The landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka re-shaped education in the south and the Little Rock Nine had to have military protection to go to school safely. They received a lot of press, movies were made, books were written, and awards were named after them. But unless you live in Virginia (or to be more specific, southern Virginia), can you honestly say you've heard of the Norfolk 17? We, at BoardBuzz picked up on this item from the AP yesterday.

A little history first--rather than follow the Federal Law, Viginia decided to close schools to avoid accepting black students in the late 1950s. The movement was called "Massive Resistance" - unlike Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Passive Resistance," the goal was not unity. In a city like Norfolk, private academies opened for white students only. Black students were left out, and had to find schools elsewhere, but were turned away every time they tried to enter a school. After the Supreme Court of Virginia got involved and overturned the Massive Resistance laws, 17 students attended schools that were all white. They were greeted with insults, racist comments, and mob mentality. We can only imagine what they had to go through to get an education.

Over the weekend, the surviving members (10 of the 14 surviving members attended) got together to honor the 50th anniversary of their groundbreaking actions and courage. Every Independence Day we honor our country and reflect on the great nation we have grown into over the last 232 years. But there are times when we are reminded of how far we've come in just the last 50 years, and how far we still need to go. NSBA's mission is, "excellence and equity in public education through school board leadership." While we work to reach this goal, we also need to recognize those who broke ground in the past, yet are often forgotten.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on July 08, 2008 (boomark / email).