In the third edition of an event that has raised more than $90,000 over the past two years, the Robert Russa Moton Museum will host Moton Live 2023 on Saturday, April 22, 2023 at the museum’s campus in the Town of Farmville.
The fundraising and educational event will take place at Moton Museum and stream live online at MotonMuseum.org/live. Moton Live 2023 will include programming and panel discussions from American civil rights historians and members of the lockout generation, as well as anniversary content detailing the summer of 1963 in Farmville and a 10-year retrospective of Moton Museum’s transformative self-guided exhibit, The Moton School Story: Children of Courage.
Launched in 2021, Moton Live’s purpose is twofold: to raise funds that support the museum’s outreach and education efforts in Virginia and beyond, and to share the Moton story through both historical and modern perspectives. The first two Moton Live events raised more than $40,000 each, which has funded the creation and distribution of educational materials to schools; hosting museum visits for local youth and professional organizations; community programming for Prince Edward County and the surrounding area; and many more initiatives to better the community.
“In the year since Moton Live 2022, Moton Museum has begun to shine more prominently on the national stage and invite an even brighter spotlight on the impact of the Moton story in Prince Edward County and our country as a whole,” said Moton Museum Managing Director Cainan Townsend.
“That Moton’s legacy continues to grow more than 70 years after the student-led walkout is proof that the Moton story remains relevant today. The tremendous fundraising success we have experienced through Moton Live has directly contributed to our ability to share that story with audiences in communities both local and national. We are looking forward to another successful campaign that will fund our educational programs and outreach for years into the future.”
The third edition of Moton Live on April 22 will follow on the heels of the museum’s recognition as a Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Park by the National Park Service. In May 2022 President Joe Biden and the National Park Service honored Moton Museum for its role in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education United States Supreme Court case alongside other NPS Affiliated Areas in Delaware, Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia and the District of Columbia. The Moton Museum is one of seven institutions involved in the Brown v. Board case to receive the recognition, which aligns the communities who worked toward fighting segregation in education.
Additionally, Barbara Rose Johns – who at just 16 years old organized and led her fellow Moton students to stage the 1951 walkout in protest of unsafe and inequitable school conditions in Prince Edward County – received additional recognition with a new portrait displayed in the Office of the Attorney General in Richmond, Va. Johns will also be memorialized at the United States Capitol later this year with a statue that will replace one of General Robert E. Lee, which was removed in 2020.
Moton Live 2023 is free to attend and stream. More information is available at www.MotonMuseum.org/Live. Patrons can make a gift to the museum now at www.MotonMuseum.org/Give and contribute to Moton Live 2023’s fundraising goal by directing their contribution to Moton Live.