Civil rights pioneer J.A. Stokes to speak at Clemson

Published: October 13, 2011

By Evan Lybrand

CLEMSON — J.A. Stokes, one of the original plaintiffs in the groundbreaking “Brown v. Board of Education” case, will speak at Clemson University’s Tillman Hall auditorium at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19. Stokes’ lecture is hosted by the Eugene T. Moore School of Education.

In 1951, Stokes and others went on strike at his high school, Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville, Va., to protest unequal facilities provided to African-American students. Stokes co-authored the book “Students on Strike: Jim Crow, Civil Rights, Brown and Me,” which gives an account of that protest, life in the Jim Crow era and the ensuing court cases.

After the success of the court case, Stokes continued his education. He received his bachelor's degree at Virginia State College and did graduate work at Virginia State College, Johns Hopkins University and Loyola University. Stokes received a doctorate equivalent from Morgan State University.

A career educator, Stokes taught at Riddick Weaver Elementary School in Portsmouth, Va., before moving to Baltimore, where he was a teacher and administrator until retiring.

He has traveled across America speaking at schools about his life and his book. Recently, he was an ad hoc member of a Virginia General Assembly steering committee that funded a $2 million Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship Program.

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