ROBIOUS elementary school - MIDLOTHIAN, VA
APRIL 29, 2016
Robious Elementary School Celebrates Black History Month
Robious Elementary School welcomed back Elizabeth Johnson Rice to address the 4th graders on their Civil Rights Projects, completed in April, and to speak to new classes about her experiences being a civil rights activist in Richmond, Virginia during the 1960's. She'd previously spoken to the school last year.
Mrs. Rice related the personal experience of February 22, 1960 when she and her brother Ford Johnson, Jr. and thirty-two fellow Virginia Union University students were arrested for trespassing the lunchroom counter of Thalhimers Department Store and refusing to leave the counter without being served. They became known as the "Richmond 34". The fourth-grade students were intrigued by her story of being jailed. She also related her opportunity to be one of the first black teachers to integrate Petersburg High School in Petersburg, Virginia. where she met racism head-on from teachers and students alike.
Students asked a series of questions about what that they had heard from her speech and studied from their projects for further clarification. The students wrote letters later thanking her for sharing her experiences with them. Teachers and students presented Ms. Rice with a beautiful orchid and thanked her for coming.
Mrs. Rice related the personal experience of February 22, 1960 when she and her brother Ford Johnson, Jr. and thirty-two fellow Virginia Union University students were arrested for trespassing the lunchroom counter of Thalhimers Department Store and refusing to leave the counter without being served. They became known as the "Richmond 34". The fourth-grade students were intrigued by her story of being jailed. She also related her opportunity to be one of the first black teachers to integrate Petersburg High School in Petersburg, Virginia. where she met racism head-on from teachers and students alike.
Students asked a series of questions about what that they had heard from her speech and studied from their projects for further clarification. The students wrote letters later thanking her for sharing her experiences with them. Teachers and students presented Ms. Rice with a beautiful orchid and thanked her for coming.
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Images by Tonya Rice
Mrs. Rice is available to speak at your functions on a variety of topics. All inquiries will be considered. Please contact us here.