1. Closing Doors, Opening Doors: Fifty Years After the School-Closing in Prince Edward County, Virginia
- Author:
- William J. vanden Heuvel
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- Council of American Ambassadors
- Abstract:
- The bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln has given our country an opportunity to remember the brutal conflict that almost destroyed the Republic. In its own way, the event we recall today—the closing of the public schools of Prince Edward County in 1959—was a last battle of the Civil War. History marked this County. On April 7, 1865, Robert E. Lee, knowing that defeat was imminent, rested here briefly before his final retreat. On April 8, the next day, Ulysses Grant, in pursuit, was in Prince Edward County. He dispatched a note to his adversary. They agreed to meet at the Appomattox Court House the next day. And so on April 9, 1865, the Civil War was ended by its most illustrious commanders. Ulysses Grant became President of the United States. Robert E. Lee devoted the last five years of his life to efforts to “lead the young men in peace” and he gave this advice to southern parents: “Forget local animosities. Teach your sons to be Americans.” It took a very long time for that message to reach the White establishment of Virginia and in particular Prince Edward County. The racial, political, economic, cultural struggle that defined the Civil War found its last echoes in the voices of those who invented “massive resistance” to the Supreme Court's decisions on desegregation and who fought bitterly over the role and future of the public schools of this County.
- Topic:
- War
- Political Geography:
- Virginia