~ The Office of the Attorney General is named for civil rights pioneer Barbara Johns, whose courageous walkout in 1951 helped lead to the desegregation of public schools ~

RICHMOND (April 23, 2021) – Attorney General Mark R. Herring is honoring Barbara Johns on the 70^th anniversary of the day that she led a walkout from her dilapidated schoolhouse in Farmville, Virginia, beginning a legal fight to desegregate schools that eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education. In 2017, Attorney General Herring dedicated the building that houses the Office of the Attorney General to Barbara Johns to honor her bravery and courage in standing up for justice in the Commonwealth.

“Seventy years ago, today, Barbara Johns did an extraordinary thing – she looked at her cramped, dilapidated schoolhouse, saw the injustice in it, and decided to stand up for what was right,” said Attorney General Herring. “Barbara’s brave actions took her all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court which declared something we all know to be true today, that separate is not equal and no one, especially not children who deserve an education, should be discriminated against under the law.

 

“Every day that I walk into the Barbara Johns Building and see the words ‘justice, equality, and opportunity’ written on the wall, I am reminded of the reason I am in this office – to be the people’s lawyer. The attorney general has a special obligation to work on behalf of Virginians, to pursue justice, promote equality, and expand opportunity for all.”

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