Freedom of Choice Oral History Project

On August 30, 1965, eleven years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared racial segregation of public schools unconstitutional, 13 African American students, formerly enrolled at the all-black A.G. Richardson High School or all-black elementary schools, desegregated Louisa County High School. Despite state and local government efforts to deny access to equal education through such measures as Massive Resistance and "Separate but Equal," these students, with the leadership and support of their parents, community members, and the NAACP, courageously sought and obtained the equal education deserved by all children.