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Welcome to the Civil Rights Memorial

It could be said that Barbara Rose Johns is Virginia’s Rosa Parks. Unfortunately, very few people have ever heard the story of how this brave young 16-year-old caused a quiet revolution in the small town of Farmville, Virginia, the ripples of which would be felt throughout the state and the nation for years to come.

The Capitol Square Civil Rights Memorial will, once and for all, recognize and celebrate Barbara Johns, her fellow students from Robert Russa Moton High School, their parents, and community leaders and civil rights attorneys.  These Virginians risked everything in the struggle to gain full and equal rights for all.  (Go here to read more about the Moton protest.)

The memorial, to be installed in July 2008, on the grounds of Virginia’s historic state capitol in Richmond, Virginia, celebrates these heroes and also serves to remind us of the debt we all owe to the sacrifice and courage of a few.  It will give the thousands of students who visit Capitol Square every school year an opportunity to learn important lessons from a pivotal time in Virginia’s history and inspire future generations.

The memorial will be sited on Capitol Square grounds outside the gates of the Executive Mansion and to the right of the statue of Hunter McGuire, MD. Stanley Bleifeld, an accomplished sculptor, has been selected from a competitive process to capture the spirit of the protest and those who participated in this important event.