This presentation explores the long-term educational and social consequences of the 1959–1964 public school closure in Prince Edward County, Virginia—the only school district in the United States to shut down its public schools for five years in defiance of the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision. As one of the five cases consolidated into Brown, Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County played a pivotal role in the desegregation movement. Yet, following the ruling, local officials in Prince Edward County refused to integrate and instead defunded public education entirely, forcing approximately 1,700 African American students to go without formal public schooling for half a decade.

This chapter, authored by Jeffrey Carlton Scales and featured in the upcoming ground-breaking edited volume Prince Edward County School Closing: A Compilation of Research Studies (Terence Hicks, Editor), examines the enduring impact of this educational shutdown. Through a qualitative case study design, this presentation investigates two central questions: (1) What were the immediate educational and social effects of the school closure on Black residents at the time? and (2) Are there lingering impacts that still influence the academic achievement of Black students in the county today? Drawing from archival research and in-depth interviews with 10 participants who either lived through the closures or were directly affected by their aftermath, the study reveals that while the closure had significant historical effects, most participants did not attribute today's academic challenges in the county to that specific event. While participants acknowledged the severe disruption caused by the closures, most did not view those events as directly responsible for current academic struggles among Black students. The findings challenge widespread assumptions about intergenerational educational loss and suggest that today’s barriers to achievement may be rooted in more complex, systemic issues beyond the historical closure itself. Furthermore, this study contributes to broader conversations about the lasting effects of educational disruption in rural, minority-majority communities and offers important insights for addressing equity, closing achievement gaps, and shaping future educational policy.

Keywords: Massive resistance, school lockout, Brown vs, Board of Education, educational struggle.