Leader of Farmville's historic student walkout in 1951 will give a talk on Tuesday, March 30

"Students on Strike: Jim Crow, Civil Rights, Brown and Me" by John A. Stokes

Retired educator John A. Stokes, one of the leaders of the historic student walkout at Farmville's R.R. Moton High School in 1951, will give a talk in the Sankofa Lecture Series on Tuesday, March 30, at 7 p.m. in Orr Auditorium in Hull Education Center.

Stokes will share highlights of his memoir Students on Strike: Jim Crow, Civil Rights, Brown and Me and relate these themes to the present needs of students. Stokes, then president of the senior class, helped organize and lead the walkout by students April 23, 1951 to protest inferior conditions for African-American students, which led to the landmark Supreme Court ruling three years later that banned segregation in public education. Stokes, who lives in Lanham, Md., was a teacher and principal with the Baltimore school system before retiring in 1994.

The Sankofa Lecture Series is presented by the College of Education and Human Services.