Working at the Moton Museum alongside those whose story we tell has been the highlight of my career. Our community is home to Virginia’s leading civil rights museum. Through the efforts of talented staff, volunteers, supportive community, and in partnership with Longwood University, we are advancing our mission of promoting understanding of Prince Edward’s civil rights history and its central role in the fight to achieve educational equality.

Moton stands on the front lines of teaching the critical components of civil rights, democracy, and justice to visitors of all ages. Over the past few years, our visitorship has accelerated rapidly. We now reach 10,000 annually through on-site and off-site programming. We interact daily with students, lead professional development for educators, and provide many public programs.

In the past few years, the Moton Story has been amplified around the Commonwealth. We’ve seen state and local buildings of prominence in Richmond and Farmville named for Barbara Johns, inclusion as a featured site on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, and a heightened relationship with the Virginia Tourism Corporation. We are extremely excited that Moton is being considered to be part of a UNESCO World Heritage site nomination of U.S. civil rights landmarks.

Since 2015 our work has been done in partnership with Longwood University. I believe that it is a natural fit. Longwood’s support has been essential to our success in sharing Moton’s story. Moton provides a unique and powerful learning lab for Longwood’s mission of teaching the ideals of citizen leadership. Longwood sociology students have used the history to expand upon topics of racism, class and educational equality. A longstanding partnership with Honors English and photography courses has produced three editions of our Storytellers Magazine project.

We’re seeing many of those who learned the Moton story as Longwood students return as educators — people like Margo Sheffler ’16, a history teacher within the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, who brought her students to see firsthand where the events she was teaching about took place. It is such a powerful experience for students from across Virginia and beyond to make connections with what they learn in the classroom. I know we are only scratching the surface of the benefits of our partnership.

While support from Longwood makes essential operations possible, the museum remains a separate 501(c) (3) organization and relies on direct community support in the form of volunteerism and individual contributions. Through our annual Family Challenge Campaign, donors can designate their gifts to museum operations and programming or to a scholarship fund for college-bound descendants of individuals affected by the school closings. This work deepens our connection to the community and is essential to our purpose.

The mission of this museum and the spirit of this place that we all care so deeply about continues to belong to our community in such a powerful way. We look forward to working alongside you to advance and secure the future of this museum as both a community anchor and a national treasure.

CAMERON D. PATTERSON serves as the Managing Director for the Robert Russa Moton Museum, a National Historic Landmark and Center for Civil Rights in Education. He can be reached via email at director@motonmuseum.org.