Charles George Gordon Moss
was born May 28, 1899, in Lynchburg, Virginia. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington & Lee University in 1921. After earning his masters degree from Yale University in 1926, he taught for one year at [then] State Teachers College in Farmville followed by one year at Wake Forest College. From 1928 to 1929 he again attended Yale in order to obtain his PhD in History. This was followed by another year at the State Teachers College before moving to Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he taught for 12 years at Mary Washington College.
Photograph: Longwood University - Greenwood Library Archives, LU-007, George William Jeffers Collection.
The Mary Richardson House and an adjacent home were eventually demolished in 1974, making way for Bicentennial Park.
Photograph: Longwood University - Greenwood Library Archives, LU-342, Clair Woodruff Bugg Collection.
In 2018 construction began on that site for a new Longwood University admissions building. Permanent exhibits in the now-completed Radcliff Hall include information regarding Dr. Moss and his role in the struggle for desegregation and the reopening of Prince Edward County's schools.
Photograph courtesy of Longwood University, Marketing & Communications.
In 1944, Dr. Moss once again came to the State Teachers College to teach history. He would remain here until his retirement in 1969.
During his tenure at Longwood, Dr. Moss was promoted to Chair of the History and Political Science Department and from 1960 to 1968 served as Dean of Students.
Photograph: Longwood University - Greenwood Library Archives, ref-334, Faculty & Staff Vertical Files.
These years, however, were not without controversy, and Dr. Moss found himself at the center of a battle to desegregate Prince Edward County's public school system.
In an interview conducted for this project Dr. Larissa Smith discusses Dr. Moss's tumultuous time at Longwood.
In 1951 a group of 450 students, led by 16-year-old Barbara Rose Johns, staged a strike at Farmville's Robert Russa Moton High School. Their protest was prompted by the inadequate facilities at the seriously overcrowded school.
Photograph courtesy of Virginia Commonwealth University, Freedom Now Project.
The striking students and their parents sought help from the NAACP. Oliver Hill and Spotswood Robinson, attorneys for the organization, agreed to take the case with the stipulation that the students sue for complete desegregation of the public school system.
The resulting lawsuit was eventually incorporated into the NAACP's Brown v. Board of Education which ultimately led to the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation in education was unconstitutional. Plaintiffs from the original Prince Edward County lawsuit made up 75% of those named in the Brown case.
Photograph courtesy of Virginia Commonwealth University, Freedom Now Project.
"with all deliberate speed..."
Less than 2 months after the Brown decision, the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution stating their "unalterable opposition" to integrated schools. This opposition to the Supreme Court's ruling signaled the beginning of a campaign of "Massive Resistance" in the Commonwealth of Virginia to maintain the segregation of the school system.
Ultimately, these efforts failed to overturn the court's decision and the county Board of Supervisors remained true to their word. In 1959, rather than integrate, they voted to close all public schools in the county.
In September 1959, with funding from private donations, tuition, and state grants, the Prince Edward Academy opened its doors to offer a private and segregated education to white children in the county.
With no public or private school options, black families in Prince Edward County were forced to either move, send their children elsewhere to get an education, or do entirely without school.
Photograph courtesy of Virginia Commonwealth University, Freedom Now Project.
The vast majority of white citizens in Prince Edward County offered no vocal opposition to the closure of the schools.
Dr. Moss, despite being greatly outnumbered, was a notable exception. He spoke out against what he deemed "unchristian and unnecessary mistreatment" of black families and children of the county brought on by the lack of public education.
Photograph courtesy of Virginia Commonwealth University, Freedom Now Project.
During the five years that Prince Edward County public schools remained shuttered, Dr. Moss was one of the few whites in the county who met regularly with black community leaders.
Dr. J. Michael Utzinger, in a recent interview conducted for this project, discusses Dr. Moss and his eventual embrace of desegregation.
Although initially apprehensive about desegregation, he ultimately embraced integration. He joined the Virginia Council on Human Relations, worked closely with the NAACP, and refused to send his son to the Prince Edward Academy.
Throughout the years that public schools in Prince Edward County were closed, Dr. Moss continued to fight for desegregation and the reopening of the school system.
Photograph courtesy of Mr. Woodfin Ligon.
That fight for desegregation included supporting black citizens of Farmville as they protested against segregation.
On July 28, 1963, groups of local black students fanned out across Farmville to stage kneel-in protests at churches in the town.
One of those groups, after being denied entrance to Farmville's First Baptist Church, was arrested for disturbing the peace as they kneeled on the church's front steps to sing.
Another group, however, was welcomed into John's Memorial Church by Dr. Moss, who invited them to sit with him in his pew. In response, the church fired Dr. Moss from his role as the church's treasurer.
Photograph: Longwood University - Greenwood Library Archives, LU-120, Dorothy Schlegel Slide Collection.
For his willingness to voice a dissenting opinion, Dr. Moss was treated by many whites in the community with ridicule and criticism. They sent letters of complaint to the governor and state superintendent of schools calling for his dismissal from Longwood.
His job was likely saved, however, by an article in the Saturday Evening Post. The author framed his situation as an attack on free speech and the State Board of Education eventually conceded that "a person should not have to forgo the right to freedom of expression in order to serve on the faculty of a Virginia institution of higher learning."
Dr. Moss's legacy of speaking truth to power and challenging the status quo was honored by Longwood University when in 2020 one of the newly renovated high-rise dormitories was named Moss Hall. The neighboring high-rise was also renamed, honoring Barbara Rose Johns.
Photograph courtesy of Longwood University, Marketing & Communications.
Prior to the day when the planned kneel-in protests were to take place in Farmville, Dr. Moss penned a letter in which he detailed the personal beliefs and philosophies that led him to take a stance against racial segregation.
In the video below, Dr. J. Michael Utzinger discusses Dr. Moss's letter and offers a call to action for student's today.
For more information on Dr. Moss, the student strike in Farmville, and the closing of Prince Edward County Schools see the following:
Watch the full interview with Dr. Larissa Smith and Dr. J. Michael Utzinger: https://youtu.be/xtk5BPc8kU0
In 1965, Encyclopedia Britannica, as part of their "Our Living History" video series, filmed a short documentary about the school closures entitled: "Equality Under the Law: The Lost Generation of Prince Edward County." The film includes an interview with Dr. Moss. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah8gZu53V4A
Books available at Greenwood Library:
Bonastia, Christopher. Southern Stalemate: Five Years Without Public Education in Prince Edward County, Virginia. LC214.22.V8 B66 2012
Daugherity, Brian J. A Little Child Shall Lead Them: A Documentary Account of the Struggle for School Desegregation in Prince Edward County, Virginia. LC214.22.V8 L37 2019
Festa, John J. Reaching for the Moon: The Struggle for Integration in Prince Edward County and America. LC214.22.V8 F47 2013
Green, Kristen. Something Must Be Done about Prince Edward County: A Family, a Virginia Town, A Civil Rights Battle. LC214.22.V8 G73 2015
Hicks, Terence. The Educational Lockout of African Americans in Prince Edward County, Virginia (1959-1964): Personal Accounts and Reflections. LA380.P74 E48 2010
Smith, Robert Collins. They Closed their Schools: Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1951-1964. LA380.P74 S6
Sullivan, Neil Vincent. Bound for Freedom: An Educator's Adventures in Prince Edward County, Virginia. LA380.P74 S8
Titus, Jill Ogline. Brown Battleground: Students, Segregationists, and the Struggle for Justice in Prince Edward County, Virginia. LC214.22.V8 T58 2011
Williams, J. Samuel, Jr. Exilic Existence : Contributions of Black Churches in Prince Edward County, Virginia During the Modern Civil Rights Movement. F232.P83 W54 2011
Woodley, Ken. The Road to Healing: A Civil Rights Reparations Story in Prince Edward County, Virginia. LC214.22.V8 W66 2019