First woman to lead storied NAACP Legal Defense Fund
Over 500 guests attended the 3rd Annual Moton Community Banquet on Thursday, October 17th at Hampden-Sydney College’s Kirby Field House.
The Moton Museum, along with Title Sponsors Centra Southside Community Hospital, Wells Fargo and Prince Edward County, were honored to welcome Elaine Jones, the first female President and Director-Counsel of the renowned NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund (LDF). Founded in 1940 by NAACP attorney and later U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the LDF is the country’s first and foremost civil and human rights law firm. From 1951 to 1964, Prince Edward County students and families, backed by LDF attorneys, courageously led the nation in the fight for integrated schools.
“Our Community, Our Children, Our Movement” was this year’s banquet theme. As the country prepares for the 60th anniversary of Brown v. Board, the Supreme Court ruling for integrated and higher quality education, all are invited to Prince Edward County, Virginia, the student birthplace of Brown and America’s Civil Rights Movement.
About the Moton Museum
A National Historic Landmark, the former R.R. Moton High School, now the Moton Museum, honors the courage and sacrifice of Prince Edward County, Virginia, students and families and their leading role in moving America from segregation toward integration. The Museum follows the 1951 Moton Student Strike and resulting Brown v. Board decisions, through Prince Edward County’s five-year (1959-64) public school closing, the 1963 opening of Kennedy Administration-backed Free Schools, and the Supreme Court’s 1964 Griffin decision ensuring free public education for all American children.