 Hi everyone, thank you for joining us today, we'll get started in just a couple of minutes going to give people a chance to hop on. For those of you just joining us I see that we are still having participants join on so we'll wait just another minute before we get started. All right, why don't we go ahead. Hello everyone. Welcome back to our forum webinar series. I'm Kendra Parsons field officer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and I'll be moderating this webinar today. In case you don't know preservation leadership forum is the professional membership program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This webinar series is made possible by members of preservation leadership forum and we sincerely thank those of you who are with us today. As part of the work of the National Trust African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. We have been working to highlight the people places and stories associated with Brown versus Board of Education. Though often thought of as being associated only with Kansas, Brown v Board was in fact a portfolio of cases from communities in Kansas, South Carolina, Washington DC, Delaware and Virginia. Today's webinar is the second in a series to broaden our understanding of the history. For those of you who missed our first webinar in February, a conversation with Cheryl Brown Henderson, founding president of the Brown Foundation for educational equity, excellence and research. You can watch a recording of that webinar at forum at savingplaces.org. Today's webinar will tell the story of the Robert Russo Moten School in Farmville, Virginia. We will hear from Cameron Patterson, executive director of the Robert Russo Moten Museum. We will also share video messages from U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tin Cain of Virginia. And towards the end of our session, my colleague Pam Bowman will provide updates on the work of the National Trust to help create National Park Service affiliated areas in Delaware, Virginia and the District of Columbia for sites associated with the Brown v Board case, as well as expanding the Brown v Board of Education National Historic Site to include related sites in South Carolina. Before we begin, I'll share a couple of housekeeping notes. Automatic closed captioning is available for this webinar to enable closed captioning just click on the CC button at the bottom of your zoom screen. We will take questions from the audience during the webinar. Please send questions via the Q&A function directly to panelists. You are welcome to submit a question at any point during the webinar, but we will be waiting until our Q&A section to answer your questions. We also encourage to communicate to all participants through the chat function. Following the program, we will send out a recording of today's webinar directly to the email that you use to register. And finally, all form webinars are archived in our forum webinar library. Next slide please. I'm Virginia Senator Mark Warner, and I'd like to thank the National Trust for Historic Preservation for allowing me to say a few words today. We know we've gone through enormous challenges in over the last year and a half. We've seen COVID, we've seen the brutal murder of George Floyd, we've seen the beginning of a reckoning of the need to address systemic racial injustice in our country. And it's important if we do that to tell the whole history of America. And for me, that also means the whole history of Virginia. An important part of that history took place back in the early 1950s in Farmville, Virginia, where a young woman named Barbara Johns led a walkout of the then-segregated all-black Moten High School in Farmville. Barbara Johns' activities at Moten High School was rolled into a civil rights case that ultimately became part of Board Brown versus Board of Education, the historic Supreme Court case that desegregated America's public schools. Again, a lot of that only took place because of the courage of Barbara Johns and her fellow students to have that walkout at Moten High School. Over the years, I've been part of efforts to commemorate that and make sure that Moten High School is preserved for part of Virginia and national history. I was proud as governor to build a statute to commemorate Barbara Johns and others' efforts for racial justice in Virginia that now stands on Capitol Square in Richmond. So I want to particularly thank the National Trust for recognizing that Moten High School needs to be preserved. This is an investment that I've made on a personal basis to make sure that building is preserved. I want to thank the National Trust and I'm proud that I led federal legislation to commemorate this site as well. It's terribly important if we're going to build better Virginia and better America that we preserve these important parts of our history. Thanks so much. Hey everybody. Hey everybody. Senator Tim Cain here. I'm proud to join this webinar where the National Trust is bringing people together to talk about the legacy of Brown versus Board of Education, the most momentous case that the Supreme Court of the United States has ever decided. And as a civil rights lawyer who practiced in the courts state and federal in Virginia and elsewhere for many, many years, it's a legacy that offers lessons for today and for tomorrow. You're going to hear from folks at the Moten Museum in Farmville, Virginia. It's an amazing museum that I visited with my family a number of times in the side of the former Moten High School. This was the high school where young student Barbara Johns led a student walk out in the early 1950s going out and taking students out with her because they didn't like separate and unequal in the community of Farmville and Prince Edward County. They reached out to attorneys that I came to know, Oliver Hill, and asked Mr. Hill to represent them in a lawsuit challenging unequal school conditions. He didn't want to do it because he was too busy with other civil rights cases, but he said, how can I turn down a request from students? The case that he brought that was eventually consolidated with five other cases becoming Brown versus Board was the only case that was inspired by students, a student walk out. Others, it was adults or teachers or school board members, but there was one student walk out and it was the Barbara Johns walk out that led to the case in Prince Edward County. Barbara Johns is memorialized with a wonderful monument on the Capitol Square. I was the chairman of the Commission of Race Funds and I unveiled the monument to Virginia civil rights heroes with Barbara Johns on it when I was governor. And now we're excited having removed the statue of Robert E. Lee, a Virginia contribution to the U.S. Capitol. We're excited that a new statue of Barbara Johns will be in Statuary Hall so that every visitor to our nation's Capitol who looks at the great American heroes can learn about the story of this talented, dynamic and courageous young woman. So please enjoy the webinar today and I'm glad I could offer a few words of just encouragement to you. Thank you so much Senators for providing these comments. Now I'd like to turn the program over to Cameron Patterson, Executive Director of the Robert Russo Moten Museum, who will tell us more about the story of the Moten School in Fromville, Virginia. As a reminder, you can share your questions for our speaker via the Q&A function. Good afternoon. It is my honor to join to share a bit about the Moten School story and our work here at the Robert Russo Moten Museum. I'm Cameron Patterson, Executive Director. And it is my honor to be a caretaker for an important story that is important to the nation and really to the world in terms of how our country has worked to advance civil rights and education, a fight that still continues to this day. As we begin, I would love the opportunity to share a video that highlights our work and centers a few of the individuals that are on the front lines of helping us to communicate this history. We can play the video. I always believe in the power of place to be in this space where history happened. I think that makes a powerful connection with folks that visit. My name is Cameron Patterson and I am the Managing Director of the Robert Russo Moten Museum here in Formville, Virginia. I mean, we kind of frame ourselves as the birthplace of the student-led civil rights movement. So these students were doing these courageous acts before their time. The generation of students at Moten were a bellwether for what would later be what we associate with the student movement of the 1960s. And we are now sitting in the auditorium of the Moten Museum, which was formerly the Robert Russo Moten High School. Barbara Rose Johns led a strike on April 23, 1951 of over 400 students, and I was one of the strikers. I was in the eighth grade before the strike. The conditions that we were studying under were deplorable. We had no gymnasium. We didn't have a cafeteria. In the white-only school, the conditions were extremely different. They had all of the amenities that we did not have. Barbara felt that something had to be done, and then she gave her speech saying that we didn't have to accept that anymore of being like a second-class citizen. And then that's when everybody started to get up and everyone walked out. I never thought it would be a 13-year struggle. Well, I personally feel that what Barbara did was very necessary. It was courageous, and it not only changed this community. It changed America. Right now I'm standing in front of the Prince Edward County Courthouse. Well, I was born in Prince Edward County in a little area called Prospect, Virginia, and in 1959, that's when schools closed. And the fourth grade was my last year of attending schools in Prince Edward County. Prince Edward County joined the Brown versus Board of Education to figure Kansas' suit. And as a result of that, the Board of Supervisors in Prince Edward, Kansas, had rather to integrate the schools that they would close. So in 1959, as I said, when I was in the fourth grade, the schools closed in Prince Edward County, and there were no public schools for any students. My dad rented an old, dilapidated house in Appomattox County, and we pretended that we lived there every morning on his way to work. He would drop us off and we would have to hide out behind the house until we heard the school bus coming. And then we would go through the back door and through the front and get on the bus. And when we started off, there were about six kids there. But before that two-year period was over, we had as many as 21 children some days coming to that house and pretending that they lived there. We are sitting in the sanctuary of First Baptist Church in downtown Farmville. Places of public assembly were all segregated at the time. Movie theaters were segregated. So African Americans had begun, too, to kind of push against these boundaries of segregation during the war years. By 1963, schools here in Prince Edward County have been closed for four years. And there were a lot of young people here who had not received any formal education for four years. And so young people wanted to protest against these conditions. So the photographs of the 1963 protests were actually not taken by journalists but were taken by police deputies who were watching and monitoring the actions of the student protesters. That's why in so many of the photographs, the students aren't looking at the photographer because they were aware that they were under surveillance. And so one of the most powerful images is of Doris Williams, now Berryman, looking straight into the face of the camera. She had just tried to buy a ticket at the State Theater, which denied entrance to African Americans. And she has a real look of defiance on her face. She wants the photographer to know who she is. In my parents' Edward County native born and raised, I'm a great grandson of a plaintiff in Brown versus Board of Education, as well as two of my great aunts, more plaintiffs. My dad was actually out of school for all five years when schools were closed from 1959 to 1964. He was six when the schools closed down in 1959, and then when he went back he was 11 years old. Luckily, he graduated high school at age 22, but he was the same age as this high school geometry teacher. We have a huge sense of place here in Farmville. I've lived in Prince Edward all my life. I love this area, and I just think that it has so much potential to do some good. And so Main Street is a place where we encourage people to come and explore Virginia's history, but also enjoy everything in between, which includes shopping, great restaurants, great art here downtown. You can take advantage of our civil rights walking tour, but we have become a strong historical and cultural arts destination. Coming to places like Farmville and the Mote Museum really underscore the fact that these are truly stories of citizens who take it upon themselves to really make America live up to its ideals. And so these places give us great hope. Use history as a source of healing. It's not repeat those same mistakes as opposed to just forgetting it and pretending and closing that chapter of our history forever. I think people can learn a lot from Virginia history. There's a lot that happened here that caused other things to happen in the country. You know, the fact that these schools were closed, the fact that the majority, 75% of the plaintiffs in the Brown decision were from Prince Edward County. The fact that the movement was led by a 16 year old student in 1951. Those things are historical events that the whole country needs to know about. Farmville is a place and Prince Edward is a place where ordinary people made extraordinary change. And that's something that I think we all have to remember and keep in mind in our own lives. Thank you for allowing me to share that. I thought it was very important to center my colleagues who helped to carry out this important work. And I also think that it shows something that's at the heart of our work as a museum. And that's the commemoration and preservation of the stories of students and families, whose personal courage and sacrifice help to make important improvements as it relates to education. Here at the Moten Museum, we are about helping to promote the ideals of citizenship empowerment responsibility. These are the guiding principles that are at the heart of the permanent exhibit that we share Moten school story, Children of Courage. As was mentioned, this story I truly believe teaches us that ordinary citizens, children even, as we talk about have used the levers of democracy to bring about change. They utilize the court systems as their way to make important advancements. In this story, we talk about it in the lens of a 13 year period between 1951 when Barbara Rose Johns leads that student walkout in 1964 after Prince Edward County reopens its public schools after having been closed for five years. And so there are two Supreme Court cases that book in that you have Brown v Board of Education of which Prince Edward County is involved, as well as the court case Griffin versus County School Board of Prince Edward that reopens public schools. I share a bit about this history, I do so through that lens of the walkout and the lockout generation, as important as it is to talk about Barbara Johns and her classmates, who were at the front end of helping to really launch Prince Edward's involvement in this legal effort. I also have to talk about those students who were impacted by the school closings, because that is the aftermath of Brown v Board that we experience following this period of massive resistance in the Commonwealth, as the Prince Edward County worked to do all that they could to ensure that we didn't integrate public schools, along with the Commonwealth of Virginia and others. Now, I always share that the significance of Farmville and Prince Edward County, it and limited to the 20th century. In this period that we talk about Prince Edward County was home to the community of Israel Hill, a group of emancipated people who before the Civil War became successful farmers merchants and artisans. Prince Edward County was a place that made significant advancement in the post reconstruction era, electing the first black representative to the Virginia It would be a place that WEB Du Bois would visit to better understand the rural black community in the origins here in Prince Edward County for research that he would do for the US Department of Labor. And that would become the basis for his work with the book the Philadelphia Negro. And I think it's important to that as you understand the 1951 student walk out that really kind of launched Prince Edward involvement with Brown v Board. It's important to, you know, really have an understanding of what was happening here in the community. I know the importance of the activism that these students brought forth. But I want to remind you that, you know, Prince Edward had many examples of a community that was constantly constantly working to advance educational equality. These students here at Moten High School, even though they did this important courageous at individual of in independent of the adults in their lives. They had great examples to which they could look to. They had great examples such as the Martha E. Forrester Council, who would work tirelessly previously as the Council for colored women to advance educational equality in terms of advocating for new school structures better resources in the classroom. They had great examples to look to through individuals like Reverend L Francis Griffin and Mr. John Lancaster, who led the parent teacher Association. But again, even though they had these individuals they could look to the students that would leave this walk out in 1951 recognize that there had reached a point in terms of the inadequacies that they were experiencing. That they really needed to step forward and create this change on their own. Now, as we talk about, and we can advance the slide here. As we talk about the 1951 student walk out it's it's important to recognize the students were fighting for in that initial fight. This initial fight for the students of Robert R. Moten High was not a fight to integrate public schools. They simply wanted better resources in terms of the facility in which they went to school in. They simply wanted better in terms of the classroom resources that they had been given access to. And that came from the belief that they felt that they had a strong experience at Moten, but that if their teachers were able to offer more. Their experience would be that much greater. Now, this is a photo of Robert R. Moten High School. And, you know, just to give you a snapshot of the conditions in which the students attended here at Moten. This was a building built in 1939. The first standalone all black high school built in Prince Edward County. This school was built for 180 students. And in the second year of its occupancy that enrollment had already reached between around 215. And then in the decade that would follow that enrollment would continue to rise until it reached around 450 students at the time of the student walk out in 1951. This Moten High School was a place that was overcrowded. And the students saw that you can tell by the photos here that we're sitting in an auditorium that is very much at capacity. They're sitting in an auditorium that very much was at the heart of student life for this high school building. It was the gymnasium. It was the cafeteria. It was overflow classroom space. This space had to be everything to the students because of the lack of facility space and resources that they had access to. On this property, they would build these tar paper shack structures that the students would refer to as adult sized chicken coops. This would be something that would very much anger the students, because they would they, they would feel that it was a slap in the face towards the promises that the county continued to not deliver on as it related to a new school building. So what do you do when you have these concerns and you feel that no one is listening and taking them seriously. You take action into your own hands and that's exactly what Barbara and her classmates did. And so on April 23 Barbara leads this student walk out planning had taken place in the months prior to this student walk out classmates that Barbara respected would slowly be brought into that planning process. And so on April 23 those plans were implemented and all 450 students walk out of school. I think as important as it is that we recognize individuals such as Barbara Johns. It's also important to note the collective activism of the students at Robert R. Moten High. And so for this effort to be successful, it would take the collective action of all 450 students to walk out of the school building towards the goal that had been set forth. And that's exactly what happened. And so once that student walk out occurred. In advance to the second slide. That's when the NAACP would become involved. And on May 23 of 1951 Virginia NAACP lawyers Oliver Hill and spots with Robinson would file suit in federal court in the case Davis versus County School Board of Prince Edward County Virginia. The complaint charged that inequalities and discrimination and educational facilities existed, but it also claimed that segregation was unconstitutional. The national NAACP ignited a legal campaign in the 30s that was focused on undermining segregated education. The county by county strategy that sought to equalize educational facilities. This effort proved tiresome and cumbersome. And oftentimes when favorable outcomes were achieved in one in court, localities did not adhere to those changes, which made the pathway forward frustrating. And so in this post World War two era as the NAACP strategy begins to shift. At the time Davis was filed national NAACP attorneys Thurgood Marshall and Robert Carter were litigating breaks the Elliott from Clarendon South Carolina. There were similar cases in Kansas Delaware in DC, all challenging the notion of constitutionality of segregation and education. And the Supreme Court chooses to combine those cases under the case in the name of Brown v Board of Education, the case out of Topeka Kansas. Now this was a strategic decision to show that the issue of segregation was not just impacting the south. In Virginia as it relates to the Davis case. The federal court heard that case on February 23 and 25 of 1952. County officials hired their legal team a powerhouse team out of Richmond to assist with their arguments. They even had the attorney general, Jay Lindsay almond, who would eventually become governor doing the massive resistance era of Virginia. A part of that legal effort as well. They would use arguments that segregation was a way of life in Virginia and it could not be possibly uprooted. They would argue that black students didn't have the intellectual capacity to be in the classroom in the same classroom as white students. Following those arguments, the federal court. It was not a favorable decision. And thus, the journey continued towards the Supreme Court. But a couple of things happened in Prince Edward County following that federal court decision, or as that case was making its way through federal court. There was a new Robert R. Moten high school built that opened in 1953. And this new Robert R. Moten high school. Solved some of the facility challenges that presented themselves. But it didn't solve the equality in terms of the resources offered inside of that facility. And so the students continued with the legal effort, even in spite of that new Robert R. Moten high school. So as the Supreme Court arguments made their way forward for the Brown decision in 54. And again with Brown to in 1955. The justices ordered in that Brown to decision and I think this is important to mention that integration should occur with all deliberate speed. So, following that Brown to decision, and we can move to the next slide, Prince Edward County enters this period of massive resistance. In that period of massive resistance. We examine here at the museum by looking at the activities that are happening on the local state and national levels. In 1957. There was a showdown in Arkansas. That state officials sought to defy orders to desegregate President Eisenhower would order units of the US Army's 101st Airborne Division to protect students desegregating Central High School. This is something that Virginia wanted to avoid at all costs. They wanted to avoid the media attention and the federal intervention that came about as a result of this decision in Arkansas. During this period of massive resistance in 1956 the Virginia General Assembly empowers the governor to close any school that sought to desegregate under the court's orders. This period of massive resistance brought about things such as the pupil placement boards that were given the power to assign students within different public schools as a way to avoid integrating. We have groups that had a local and statewide presence, such as the defenders of state sovereignty and individual liberty, organize to lobby state politicians to take a hard stance against desegregating public schools. So with this period of massive resistance, we see in Virginia that public schools following Brown are closed in Charlottesville, Virginia, Warren County, Virginia, and Norfolk Virginia by action of the governor. And these were schools that were seeking to integrate. And so with that order from the governor, the federal courts intervene in the federal courts order that Prince Edward County integrate their public schools. They finally feel that the time has come that Prince Edward integrate their public schools. And so that's when you see here on the local level, Prince Edward County make that decision in 1959 to close its public schools. And so we see Prince Edward County's road to Brown begins with the student strike of 1951. We see the involvement at the state level. As it relates to this period of massive resistance following Brown. And we see what happens in a community when my local action, our local board of supervisors makes the decision to close public schools here in Prince Edward County. And so, you know, I will stop there. So we see advanced slides. I just want to just share a bit about the work that we've been able to do at the most museum to share this story. It is important because we are in the 70th year that we commemorate the student walkout of 1951 and the courageous actions of those young students 70 years. And this is also the year where we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the museum opening to the public. The Moten Museum opened to the public on the 50th anniversary of the Moten student strike in 2001. And so if we advance the slide. We see the work that we have been able to do as we work to share this story with visitors across the state across the country. Regarding the courage and sacrifice of Prince Edward County citizens. We've been able to take this historic structure the former Robert R. Moten High School, which is now a historical landmark, and we've been able to preserve it in a way that helps to communicate the story. You see here the photo of the auditorium from which Barbara Rose John stood in 1951 and encouraged her classmates to walk out. We've been able to restore that space to what it would have looked like in 51 when those students went on strike. If we continue, we also see what we've been able to do with the individual classroom space here at the Moten High School as well. We've been able to take the individual classroom space and turn it into gallery space that helps to tell the story of what happens here in Prince Edward County. The photo on the left is the first classroom space that we were able to modify. We always felt it was important in this particular exhibit that we talk about the founding documents of the country. And we really begin the conversation of the conditions that would lead the students to go on strike in 1951. We want to set the stage for the environment in which they went to school. And we really want to begin to tell the story of the student experience here at Robert R. Moten High School. As we transition, the photo on the right is the legal gallery. I call it the legal gallery. That's really where we begin to tell the story of the legal effort as it relates to Prince Edward County through the Davis case, and then more broadly, as it becomes a part of Brown v. Board of Education. So additionally, we've been able to create spaces that explore the role of massive resistance in Virginia by taking a look at massive resistance from a local statewide and national perspective. We've been able to tell the story of what happens when public schools close by taking you on a journey of the different paths that students took based upon what was available to them. And then finally we culminate as we tell the story of that reassurgence the resurgence of student activism with the student protest of 1963. The involvement of the federal government through the Kennedy administration. And the Prince Edward Free Schools that would open prior to the Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County case that would reopen public schools. So if we advance to the next slide. We decided truly, as we explore the opportunity for collaboration with the National Trust with the National Park Service to become involved with the other sites at the heart of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, because it's our desire to tell the whole story. It's our desire to elevate and highlight the other communities at the heart of the Brown decision. And we believe that affiliation with the National Park Service provides us with an additional tool in our toolbox to be able to engage and communicate with members of the public about this important history. So I show these three photos here, some ways that we have done that locally is through our civil rights and education heritage trail. We've done that through our Farmville civil rights walking tour. And within the past couple of years we've been proud to do that in concert with the US civil rights trail. There will be a comment that popped into my screen from an individual that mentioned the work of Studio Emmons, our architect, who helped us to realize and conceptualize the permanent exhibit that we share today. And we are very proud that we have a digital component that we will be making available to the public as well within the next month. So I'll stop there I see some wonderful questions that are popping through, and I'd be happy to answer them. Thank you so much cam that was a fantastic and extremely thorough presentation. I have a few questions. Let's start with the first one a couple of people would like to know if we can share a little bit with them about who Robert Russo Moten was. That's an important question and he is an important individual, Robert R. Moten, born in Amelia County, raised in Prince Edward County was a noted educator and civil rights leader. Famously known for the role that he played at the Tuskegee Institute and succeeding Booker T Washington as superintendent of the Tuskegee Institute. And he was really at the home from a leadership standpoint and helping to lay the groundwork for the Tuskegee Airman program. He served in leadership roles at Hampton Institute, which is now Hampton University and naming our black schools in Prince Edward County after prominent black citizens of Prince Edward County was extremely important to the community. You would see Robert R. Moten high school named in his honor. You would see the Mary E branch school named after noted educator Mary E branch, who was the first black college president, and also one of the founders of the United Negro College Fund. So we very much honor his legacy within Prince Edward County. And as our namesake of the museum. Thank you. So we have another question. So, the Robert R. Moten school was constructed in 1939. For those of you who don't know there was in 1953. Another school was constructed as a response to the accusation that the facilities for African American students were unequal. So one of our attendees would like to know what happened to that 1953 school building. That's a good question so the students did make the transition to that new school building. And it became the all black high school in the county. And the decision was made, and the site that they left, which is now the museum became it still was occupied as a school building but for lower grades. Once the high school was built in the building that we sit, Robert R. Moten high, it was occupied as a school building by the county up through the early 90s. And the schools have reopened in 64. And can do you another question. Who is the architect of the Robert R. Moten school. The architect of the Robert R. Moten. I am not sure of that. No problem. I think that's a trickier question. It's not not as not as far as I know a well known architect. Cynthia if you would like to send us an email after this webinar we'll see if we can find that and help you find that information if you're still interested. Yeah I know. I often get a lot of comments that the school structure in which the museum's house the original Robert R. Moten. It seemed like a very common architectural concept for all black schools I think it was a more cost effective way at going about construction. When you had the auditorium at the center of the school experience so no matter what direction you went, you had to cross through the auditorium to get to where you were going. Thanks, Ken. That's really helpful context. It sounds like this was probably a standardized design. So we have another question. Does the museum feature documents from the Griffin versus Prince Edward County case. We don't feature we currently don't have in our archive collection any documents related to the Griffin court case. We do have some photo documents that we were able to obtain as part of our permanent exhibit development. So I would say that, you know, quite honestly, you know the permanent exhibit is really put together based on photo evidence based on student voices. Based on writings about Prince Edward history that had been developed that have been developed through the years, really powerful in terms of the first person accounts that were able to offer. And I would say honestly that the collections piece is something that we are diving into a bit heavier as we continue to move forward. Fantastic. So I think we'll have time for one more question. And that it was is, so why was Davis was the lead plaintiff on this case and not Barbara johns can you tell us more about Barbara johns and why she actually wasn't a plaintiff in the case. Yeah, so Barbara leaves. Shortly after the strike had taken place. There were fears for her safety. You know based on some threats that had been made based on some things that her family were hearing within the community. And so they would send her to live with her uncle Vernon johns, who at the time was pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery Alabama. And so she would graduate high school in Montgomery. She would attend Spellman as an undergraduate student before moving to Philadelphia for the for the remainder of her adult life but that that's a great question and so, you know her she's, she's a part of it in name, but she's not the lead figure. Dorothy was Davis in her family were the first to to sound on. Right, thank you so much can really appreciate you joining us today giving us this great presentation and answering all of these questions. I apologize for those of you who had questions that we would didn't have time to get to today but if you'd like to follow up with us via email we can see if we can get those answers for you. And we'll give you a later. If you send me any questions I'm happy to answer. Yeah. info at moten museum.org. Wonderful. Thank you cam. We appreciate that so info at moten museum.org for any of you who have questions about the history of the school or the related cases. So at this time, we are going to move over to the next part of our program and I'd like to invite my colleague Pam Bowman who's our senior director of public lands policy to provide updates on the work of the National Trust to help create the National Park Service affiliated areas and to expand the National Park Service historic site for sites associated with the Brown v. Board case so take it away Pam. Thanks Kendra and thank you again cam for an amazing and inspiring presentation. It really has been part of the reasoning and basis for the National Trust getting involved in this particular project. I'd like to just talk a little bit more about how this is connected to a new legislative advocacy campaign that the National Trust has been leading for the past a couple years. You'll see here a little bit of information about the National Park Service. We began this project, looking at the fact that when these cases were consolidated. We had an opportunity still to up left and share the stories linked to the other four communities in Virginia Delaware, Washington DC, and South Carolina. And so we approached this project by looking at some of the, the existing sites and how they're protected and you'll see here that the National Park Services Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site is located into peak at Kansas and that there was an opportunity to maybe expand and have additional National Park Service sites that represent each of the other four cases and communities. This new legislation was introduced last fall in September and gives an opportunity to share share that history and preserve and protect these important places. And the bill would do two things. It first expands that peak at Kansas National Park Service site to include related sites in South Carolina associated with the Briggs v. Eliot case, and would also establish National Park Service affiliated areas in Virginia, Delaware and Washington DC. Next slide please. This is a little bit of information about the legislation that was introduced last fall and then reintroduced in February of this year. You'll see that the legislation is bipartisan and bicameral there's both the House bill introduced by Representative Clyburn from South Carolina, and you'll see the original co-sponsors listed here. And also the Senate bill introduced by Senator Coons from Delaware, along with 100% participation by each of the United States Senators and all of the members of the House of Representatives representing the communities outlined in this legislation. We've been very pleased with the momentum and interest over the last few months, both with additional co-sponsors being added to this bill and the news that we have received from all over the country about how excited people are about this legislation going forward. Some of this information may look a little familiar from previous webinars if you've been following this series, but the one update we did want to share with you is that we do expect that a congressional hearing is forthcoming in the House Natural Resources Committee sometime in the next couple weeks. This will be an opportunity for a panel of witnesses to talk about the importance of this legislation. And as soon as we get more information about that, we'll be sharing that on all of our channels in as many places as possible. So you can follow along as this bill progresses through the legislative process. We have a lot of other ways that you can engage in this big effort to get these House and Senate bills passed, and I'll turn it over to Kendra now to talk a little bit more about that. Thanks so much, Pam. So as Pam mentioned, we are expecting a hearing on this bill sometime in the next couple of weeks. So now would be a fantastic time to have your support. A couple of ways you can do that. First, for individuals who are joining us, you can visit savingplaces.org slash Brown VBOE to send a complete an action item asking your elected officials to support the Brown V Board of Education National Recklite Expansion Act. If you are joining us today representing an organization, we would love to have your organization join our group sign on letter. We are hoping to finalize that letter by this Friday, April 16. So please, if your organization would like to be part of that letter, email us at Brown VBOE at savingplaces.org. And then finally, please follow the National Trust website and social media for future opportunities to learn and get involved as well as updates on when exactly that hearing will be taking place. Next slide, please. So we are coming up on the end of our program. But before we go, we invite everyone with us today to keep the discussion going on forum connect our online community for people in the business of saving places. We have active conversations happening all week around topics from section 106 to women's history at historic sites and many more. If you haven't joined connect yet, you should. It's a great place to keep up this conversation and start others. Next slide please. We also find opportunities to keep learning about the work of the National Trust. Our next upcoming webinar will be the title basin in context funding the public sphere, and we'll take place on April 21 2021 at 530pm Eastern. Next slide. Thank you so much to everyone who attended today's webinar and a special thank you to Cameron Patterson for sharing the most high school story with us. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us. Our email is forum at savingplaces.org.