On Friday night, September 4th, over half a million Americans were introduced to Prince Edward County’s Barbara Johns and the 1951 Moton Student Strike. The story of the courageous, young, civil rights pioneers was featured on season 3, episode 10 of the Travel Channel show, Mysteries at the Monument.
The docu-reality series “scours the country for America’s most extraordinary monuments and reveals the amazing mysteries hidden within,” says the show’s website. “Hosted by Don Wildman, this series visits the statues, memorials, national parks, sculptures and gravestones that commemorate our nation’s most intriguing events, notorious crimes, scandals, disasters and triumphs.”
The show’s producers and film crew traveled to Richmond’s Capitol Square last September to film the Virginia Civil Rights Memorial, which honors the Moton students and the strike that led to the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board school desegregation ruling. While in Richmond, the show’s team also interviewed Moton Museum director of education and public programs, Justin Reid. Reid, along with host Don Wildman, co-narrates the 8-minute segment, while actors portraying Barbara Johns, her fellow classmates, and Moton High School principal M. Boyd Jones re-enact the morning of the April 23, 1951 strike.
The episode is scheduled to re-air Friday, September 18th at 5PM ET. It can also be purchased and downloaded on Amazon and iTunes.