Denied Educational Opportunity by ‘Massive Resistance’ 1954-1964 – Your Family May be Eligible for New Scholarship Opportunities

To commemorate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and to support his efforts to promote racial fairness in all aspects of American life, the Warren County Retired Teachers Association is alerting the Warren County community of an existing and expanded scholarship opportunity for those who were denied education, regardless of their race, between 1954 and 1964 due to “Massive Resistance” in Virginia.

Named after the pivotal Supreme Court decision that made school segregation unconstitutional, the fund is named the Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship Fund, which was created in 2004. The newly expanded fund now supports full scholarships (including textbooks), not only to those impacted during those 10 years but to their lineal and collateral descendants. So, according to the county Retired Teachers Association, if you were denied an education (as noted above, no matter your race) in Warren County or elsewhere in impacted Virginia counties between the years 1954 and 1964, this fund is for you, as well as for your sons and grandsons, daughters and granddaughters (lineal) in addition to your nieces, grandnieces, nephews, and cousins (collateral).

Eligible persons may use the award for a wide range of educational programs. Those include transitional education programs, GED certification, career or technical education, undergraduate degree, master’s degree, and doctoral or professional degrees from an accredited two-year or four-year public or private Virginia institution of higher education.

Courtesy of Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship Program.

The Warren County Retired Teachers Association encourages anyone who may be eligible to contact the Brown v Board of Education Scholarship Committee at 804-698-1888 for a 2024-2025 Application Packet. The deadline for submission is the end of March 2024.

(Information from a release by the Warren County Retired Teachers Association and member responses to follow-up questions.)