W. K. Kellogg Foundation Contributes $400,000 to Moton Museum

The Robert Russa Moton Museum has begun a project to impact the lives of children from low-to-moderate income families across the Civil Rights in Education Heritage Trail communities.  The project titled “Civic Leadership” will emphasize the stories of community-based historical role models through curriculum, heritage tourism, economic development, and policy analysis.  The tradition of civic leadership embodied in the persons of Barbara Johns, Rev. L. Francis Griffin, Martha E. Forrester, and Robert R. Moton serve as the model.

The project is funded by a $400,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan.  Grant funds for this project will be expended between April 1, 2009 and March 31, 2013.

“The 14 member Communities of the Virginia’s Retreat consortium, the promotional arm for the Civil Rights in Education Heritage Trail, are thrilled by the Moton Museum’s receipt of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant,” said 2009 President of Virginia’s Retreat Sharon Carney.

The Civil Rights in Education Heritage Trail is a 41-site self-guided driving trail across Southside Virginia.  The trail, anchored by the Robert Russa Moton Museum, explores the theme of post-Civil War expanded educational opportunity.  Sites are located in 15 municipalities, including Amelia, Appomattox, Brunswick, Buckingham, Charlotte, Cumberland, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Halifax, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nottoway, Powhatan, Prince Edward, and the city of Petersburg.  The Trail was launched in 2004 as a partnership of local government focused on highlighting sites for their tourism potential.

Curriculum will link the Moton story and the collective stories of the Civil Rights in Education Heritage Trail to regional and remote classrooms building innovative education and learning partnerships between schools, families, communities, government, and the business sector.

Moton will encourage and support grass roots regional development of the Civil Rights in Education Heritage Trial by building social capital and networks that create trusting and nurturing relationships.

Economically, Moton will promote investment in heritage tourism and education-related infrastructure and human resources.

Policy analysis will seek to influence state and national policy from the grassroots level upward in areas related to Southside Virginia’s role(s) in advancing Civil Rights in Education mobilizing individuals and organizations to collectively engage in community building, public decision-making, and the democratic process. 

“Moton and the Civil Rights in Education Heritage Trail offer tremendous opportunities for Southside, Virginia.” said Moton Museum Director Lacy Ward, Jr.  “We are grateful to the W. K. Kellogg Foundation for recognizing and supporting our efforts.”

The Robert Russa Moton Museum is located in the National Historic Landmark former R. R. Moton High School. The Museum preserves and interprets the role Prince Edward County’s citizens played in America’s struggle to move from a segregated to an integrated society.

The W. K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930.  The organization supports children, families, and communities as they strengthen and create conditions that propel vulnerable children to achieve success as individuals and as contributors to the larger community and society.  Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the southern African countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

For further information, please visit the Foundation’s website at www.wkkf.org.