Virginia RC&D Opens 300-Mile Historic Civil Rights Trail

The Old Dominion Resource Conservation & Development Council based in southside Virginia officially opened the Civil Rights in Education Heritage Trail on May 14 in Farmville. NRCS Associate Chief Thomas Weber attended the event.

"The Commonwealth of Virginia has 300 years of educational history starting with Governor Alexander Spotswood, who in the early 1700s personally financed the education of American Indians at Fort Christanna in Virginia," said Governor Mark Warner. He added, "Some 250 years later, in the 1950s and 1960s, Virginians were represented with peaceful movements by African-Americans seeking equal access to education."

The Civil Rights in Education Heritage Trail is the first historic trail dedicated to commemorating the civil rights in education struggles of African-Americans, American Indians, women and others from the 18th to the 20th century. Encompassing 300 miles of southside Virginia, the trail comprises 41 sites, with each marker acting as a tribute to an event, location or person that profoundly affected the civil rights in education movement.

The Civil Rights in Education Heritage Trail is being established by the Old Dominion Resource Conservation & Development Council. The trail marks the newest historic tourism destination in Virginia and will drive economic development in southside Virginia. It is managed by Virginia's Retreat, a regional tourism marketing consortium comprising the Counties of Amelia, Appomattox, Brunswick, Buckingham, Charlotte, Cumberland, Dinwiddie, Halifax, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nottoway, Prince Edward, and the City of Petersburg.

To learn more about the trail, visit http://www.varetreat.com or call 1-800-6-RETREAT. Visitors may also "meet Virginia" by contacting the Virginia Tourism Corp. at http://www.virginia.org

Story courtesy of Old Dominion Resource Conservation & Development Council. Image: Historic marker installed at Longwood University. Image courtesy of the Longwood University News.