And, for me, the most troubling of all the things that were done to the children of Virginia:
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As white parents herded their students into the new segregation academies, the most resourceful black families scrambled to salvage their children’s educations by sending them to live with relatives around the state, some as far afield as North Carolina. Prince Edward’s schools would remain closed from 1959 through 1964, five long and bitter years. Many of the affected children, known as the “Lost Generation,” never made up the missing grades of education. Virginia, a state with one of the highest concentrations of scientific talent in the world, led the nation in denying education to its youth. Dorothy’s friends and former Moton colleagues watched helplessly as their children’s futures were sacrificed in the battle over the future of Virginia’s public schools. Commenting on the situation in 1963, United States Attorney General Robert Kennedy said, “The only places on earth known not to provide free public education are Communist China, North Vietnam, Sarawak, Singapore, British Honduras—and Prince Edward County, Virginia.”[emphasis mine]
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I should note, however, that Mr. Kennedy was not completely accurate about the places that don't provide a free public education, especially for young girls, but it really doesn't change the point he was making, and making rather eloquently.