Prince Edward County, Virginia, holds significant history in the civil rights movement, particularly in relation to education. In 1951, Barbara Johns, a 16-year-old student at Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville, led a strike to protest the substandard conditions at the all-Black school. This strike eventually led to a lawsuit that was a part of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954 that declared racially segregated schools unconstitutional.

After the Supreme Court's ruling, Prince Edward County refused to comply with the desegregation order. Instead of integrating their schools, Prince Edward County closed all public schools from 1959 to 1964 in what became known as the "Massive Resistance" movement. This action denied Black students access to education for five years and had a devastating impact on the local Black community.

The closure of the schools in Prince Edward County is considered one of the longest and most extreme acts of resistance to school desegregation in the United States. The county's actions drew national attention and became a symbol of the challenges faced during the civil rights movement.

Ultimately, through the efforts of organizations and activists, including the NAACP and the Rev. L. Francis Griffin, the schools in Prince Edward County were reopened, and the process of desegregation began. The legacy of the struggle for educational equality in Prince Edward County continues to be remembered and studied in the context of the broader civil rights movement in America.