75 years after she led a student strike that helped end school segregation, Barbara Rose Johns now stands in the US Capitol where Robert E. Lee once did

In December 2025, the statue of Barbara Rose Johns replaced that of Robert E. Lee as one of the two Virginians displayed in the U.S. Capitol. Here’s why.

By: Jonathan Entin, Case Western Reserve University, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: April 2, 2026

Words: 991

Last Updated: 3 months, 4 weeks ago

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By Jonathan Entin, Case Western Reserve University

The 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence isn’t the only important anniversary in 2026. This year also marks the 75th anniversary of an extraordinary case of student activism that helped lead to the Supreme Court’s decision outlawing segregated schools.

In April 1951, 16-year-old Barbara Rose Johns organized a student strike to protest the shabby conditions and inadequate education at her segregated Black high school in Prince …

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