The Moton/Prince Edward County Alumni Association is more than the reunions that acted as the precipice for the organization’s establishment. Members of the organization discussed the association as they sat at a table in a room of the tar paper shack. “It’s a story that we need to tell, a story which needs to be known,” said Cornell Walker, the president of the Moton/ Prince Edward Alumni Association.

Walker attended Prince Edward County Public Schools when they closed from 1959 to 1964.

At the meeting Walker talked about the reactionary phase of the ’50s that led to the closing of schools.

“Prince Edward County to a big degree is still stuck in the ’60s,” he said. “The mindset of a lot of people, you know, they say the schools were closed, that happened 1959, I didn’t have anything to do with it. Get over it.”

He said that, much like with the trauma in Houston caused by Hurricane Harvey, is not something a group of people can get over.

“The school closing, Prince Edward County being the only schools in the United States to shut its doors rather than integrate, it’s not something Prince Edward County is going to get over,” Walker said. “But it is something that Prince Edward County can remember and do whatever they can to keep it from happening again.”

He said that’s the groups mindset that they have to do things that will hopefully draw more people in and change others mindsets.

“Yes it did happen 57, 58 years ago. But it is still as relevant today as it was then,” Walker said.

The association holds reunions every two years, donates school supplies to Prince Edward County Middle School at the beginning of the year and donates to the Carl U. Eggleston Foundation’s Toy Giveaway at Christmas for children in need, according to Walker. This year for the first time, the association will give two $250 scholarships to students of Prince Edward County Public Schools.

Walker said while the association isn’t political, they will support the schools.

Elzora Stiff, a member of the association, said people in the community are struggling with how the schools function.

“How our school board functions and what they don’t understand is what’s happening that’s keeping us from growing,” Stiff said. “And I think we do need to have conversations more about how we get more enthusiasm for education here and I’m not sure where it begins but we have to rejuvenate our interest in education here.”

Stiff stayed in Prince Edward County during the school closing.

“Dad was of the mindset that if a family couldn’t take all four of us, none of us would go,” Stiff said. “And who in God’s name would take all four of us? So we didn’t go.”

She said her father shielded her from much of the discussion of why schools were closed and that she didn’t understand until she researched it later on.

“The closing of school really impacts all of your gut, whether you realized it or not,” Stiff said, referring to those affected by the closing. “It has played a role in a lot of your emotional, your physical, your social all of that development because those things develop as you go along in school and when it’s cut off, you’re cut off from developing in certain ways.”

She said the for many people it stunted growth in various ways.

“And some of them did not recover and that lack of recovery has moved from one generation to another. We gotta stop it somewhere,” Stiff said.

“We are getting older, we’re leaving here pretty fast,” Walker said. “It’s a continuation, hopefully, of all the kids that have gone to school here so they won’t forget what happened in the past when they see public schools are getting ready to shut down again, it’s not just going to be in the face of Prince Edward County it’ll be in the face of the United States.”

Walker said the association is looking to make scholarships a regular part of the association, but as of now there hasn’t been enough fundraising to do so.

Walker said the association has very few white students who are members, but noted the group is all-inclusive and would love to have more people to be a part of it.

“I believe that we can play a great part in keeping history from repeating,” said Mickie Carrington, a member of the group. “We do need more people to come on board because as a 16 member committee we do a lot, but we could do so much more to get more people.”

Anyone who has attended Prince Edward County Schools is encouraged to participate. Those interested in donating or getting involved in the association should contact Walker at (434) 392-4888.