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Farmville is a town in Virginia, United States. The population was 6,845 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Prince Edward County. Farmville is the home of Longwood University and is the town nearest to Hampden-Sydney College.
Historical Notes
Civil war historyFarmville was the object of the Confederate Army's desperate push to get rations to feed its soldiers. The rations had originally been destined for Danville, but an alert quartermaster ordered the train back to Farmville. Despite a desperate advance of the cavalry commanded by Fitzhugh Lee, the Confederate army was checked by the arrival of Union cavalry commanded by Gen. Philip Sheridan, and 2 divisions of infantry. General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia found itself surrounded soon thereafter, and surrender was effected at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward CountyFarmville and Prince Edward County Public Schools were the source of Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, a case incorporated into Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark case which overturned school segregation in the United States. Among the cases consolidated into the Brown decision, the Davis case was the only one involving student protests. R.R. Moton High School, an all-black school in Farmville named for Robert R. Moton, suffered from terrible conditions due to underfunding. The school did not have a gymnasium, cafeteria, or teachers' restrooms. Teachers and students did not have desks or blackboards, and due to overcrowding, some students had to take classes in an immobile school bus parked outside. The school's requests for additional funds were denied by the all-white school board. As a result of the Brown decision, in 1959 the Board of Supervisors for Prince Edward County refused to appropriate any funds for the County School Board at all, effectively closing all public schools rather than integrate them. White students often attended all-white private schools called segregation academys that formed in response. Black students had to go to school elsewhere or forgo their education altogether. Prince Edward County schools remained closed for five years. When they finally reopened, the system was fully-integrated. Prince Edward County Public Schools now operates single Elementary, Middle, and High Schools for all students, regardless of race. The former R.R. Moton High School building became a community landmark. In 1998, it was named a National Historic Landmark. It houses the Robert Russa Moton Museum, a center for the study of civil rights in education. [1] Research Tips
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