In 1951, before MLK started marching, before Rosa Parks sat where she wanted to sit on 
the bus, and before young people sat-in at lunch counters, 16-year-old Barbara Rose 
organized and led a walkout in Farmville, VA to protest the conditions black kids had 
to endure at school. The NAACP eventually took her case all the way to the Supreme 
Court, where it and several other cases were combined with Brown vs. Board of 
Education, which ultimately led to a ruling outlawing segregation. For her bravery, 
Barbara's family endured harassment from the KKK that led to a cross burning in her 
yard. Her family sent her to family in Alabama to finish out high school.

My editor would like me to point out that illegal or not, public schools never really 
desegregated.

So why don't know we know more about Barbara Rose? She was a kid, and her name got 
dropped from the headlines when her case was merged with Brown vs. Board of Education. 
After high school, she graduated from Drexel in Philadelphia, got married, raised a 
family, and worked as a librarian in Philadelphia until her death in 1991. I like to 
think she'd be pleased that, in 2025, I learned about her role in history after 
checking out this book from the library. History has caught up in the last 10 years, 
with Virginia in particular finding several ways to honor her legacy. Her story is also 
now part of the 4th grade curriculum in the state.

Also, it's worth pointing out that the book is a kid's book, and you'll be able to read 
it in 1015 minutes, and that I learned about it, and about Barbara Rose, when the 
author ended up in my Mastodon feed. This is a book that the current US government does 
not want you reading, so it's your moral duty to read it. Also, by checking it out at 
your library you keep it active, which means it doesn't get removed from circulation.

You know what to do.