"Gone But Not Forgotten"

Tragedy struck on March 13, 1951 on an unusually foggy and rainy afternoon in Elam, Virginia. A school bus had not quite cleared the tracks, when a train blasted by ripping off the back end of the bus and taking with it the lives of five young people.

The five killed were Naomi Hendricks, 18, and her brother Dodson, 15; Christine Hendricks, 18, first cousin of the other Hendrick teenagers; Hettie Dungee, 17; and Winfield Page, 14.  All killed were from the Prospect community.

On Saturday, May 30, 2009 the Martha E. Forrester Council of Women will deliver a program of remembrance, "Gone But Not Forgotten" at the Robert Russa Moton Museum in honor of those young people that lost their lives. The program will begin at 2 pm. It is free and open to the public.

Moton was the site of the April 23, 1951 student walkout in protest of inferior educational facilities led by 16-year-old sophomore Barbara Johns. The Moton strike launched Prince Edward County’s 13-year struggle for Civil Rights in Education and resulted in the filing of Davis v. Prince Edward, which called for an end to racial segregation in public education. Davis was decided, along with four other cases, in the Supreme Court decisions Brown v. Board (1954) and Brown II (1955).

The Moton Museum is located in the former R. R. Moton High School at 900 Griffin Boulevard, Farmville, Virginia. For additional information, please telephone 434-315-8775.