Barbara Johns
Lee Statue Removed From US Capitol
Tomorrow is Christmas, the annual celebration of the birth of Jesus. For Christians this is much more than recalling the humble circumstances of Jesus’ birth in a manger surrounded by Mary, Joseph, and the animals who shared that feeding trough with the holy homeless family. Christmas also celebrates the way that Jesus embodied the presence and power of God through non-violent, self-sacrificial, redemptive love. God still calls and empowers us to live this way in our time. During this season of Advent leading up to Christmas, a story from the US Capitol building exemplified the ongoing impact of living this way in the world. In the part of the Capitol building called statuary hall, each state has two statues in honor of historic people from that state. Virginia decided to replace the statue of Robert E. Lee with one of Barbara Johns. As a black sixteen year old high school student in the segregated Robert Moton High School in Farmville, VA , Barbara Johns led a student strike in April 1951 to protest the substandard school facility that was no where close to complying with the “separate but equal” segregation laws that were always separate but never equal. This courageous example of non-violent direct action took place over five years before the first civil rights campaign led by Martin Luther, King Jr. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall took on the case and included it with four others that would combine to become the landmark Brown decision by the Supreme Court that declared segregation in public education to be unconstitutional. I encourage you to take time watch the video posted below as a springboard to learn more about Barbara Johns and the story of the long struggle for integrated education in Prince Edward County Virginia. My purpose of highlighting her witness is to remind us that faith based non-violent direct action is a power greater than violent force for achieving true justice.
May you have a blessed Christmas as we celebrate the birth of Jesus. As followers of this Prince of Peace, may we commit ourselves anew to following his way of non-violent, self-sacrificial, redemptive love in our time. The example of Barbara Johns and the decision to honor her in statuary hall bear witness to the power that changes our lives and society in ways that promote God’s love and justice for all people.