Edwilda Gustava Allen Isaac

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Edwilda Gustava Allen Isaac

Born	Edwilda Gustava Allen 1937 (1937)
Died	January 21, 2022(2022-01-21) (aged 84–85)
Nationality	American
Education	Alverno College
Occupation(s)	Educator, activist
Known for	R.R. Moton High School protest

Edwilda Gustava Isaac (née Allen; 1937 – 2022) was an American civil rights pioneer. She participated in the 1951 walkout of the segregated Robert Russa Moton High School to protest unequal conditions.

Biography

Edwilda Gustava Allen was born in 1937, ^[where?] the elder daughter of Vera and Edward Allen.^[1] As a teenager she attended the Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia. The school, was built in 1939 and by 1951 the segregated, Black school was inadequate to serve the student's needs. Among the problems were overcrowding and outdated textbooks.^[2]

In 1951, Isaac, then an eighth grader, helped stage a walkout, led by Barbara Johns, of students to protest conditions.^[3] The students marched to the courthouse, and Isaac was a member of the group of students that entered the courthouse to present their grievances.^[2]

The walkout brought attention to the situation at the school to the NAACP, this in turn led to the court case Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County which in turn became part of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court case establishing that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.^[3]^[2]

Isaac went on to attend Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, became a music teacher and married.^[3] She eventually returned to Farmville where she continued her teaching career. She was a member of the Martha E. Forrester Council of Women. The Council worked to turn the Moton School into a museum and establish the building as a National Historic Landmark.^[3]^[2]

She died ^[where?] on January 21, 2022.^[4]

In 2016, Isaac was honored by the Virginia Women in History, sponsored by the Library of Virginia and Virginia Foundation for Women.^[3]

References

^ Calello, Monique. "Library features outstanding Virginia women". The News Leader. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Orth, Kathryn. "Richmond Times-Dispatch - Marching their way into history". Longwood University. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Edwilda Gustava Allen Isaac". Virginia Changemakers. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
^ "Edwilda Gustava Isaac Obituary (2022) Richmond Times-Dispatch". Legacy. Retrieved May 4, 2022.

External links

Interview of Edwilda Allen Issac in 2000 for The Ground Beneath Our Feet

Virginia Women in History

2000–2009

2000	Ella Graham Agnew Mary Julia Baldwin Margaret Brent Willa Cather Jennie Dean Sarah Lee Fain Ellen Glasgow Dolley Madison Pocahontas Clementina Rind Lila Meade Valentine Maggie L. Walker
2001	Rosa Dixon Bowser Elizabeth Campbell Thomasina Jordan Elizabeth Keckley Theresa Pollak Sally Louisa Tompkins Elizabeth Van Lew Edith Wilson
2002	Rebecca Adamson Janie Porter Barrett Patsy Cline Hannah Lee Corbin Christine Darden Lillian Ward McDaniel Mary-Cooke Branch Munford Jessie M. Rattley
2003	Nancy Astor Pearl Bailey Anna Whitehead Bodeker Mary Ann Elliott Annabelle Ravenscroft Gibson Jenkins Frances Benjamin Johnston Anne Dobie Peebles Annie Bannister Spencer
2004	Grace Arents Cockacoeske Katie Couric Anne Makemie Holden Mary Draper Ingles Sarah Garland Boyd Jones Annie Snyder Martha Washington
2005	Clara Leach Adams-Ender Caitlyn Day Bessie Blount Griffin Mary Johnston Barbara Johns Powell Lee Smith Mary Belvin Wade
2006	Kate Waller Barrett Marie Majella Berg John-Geline MacDonald Bowman Benita Fitzgerald-Brown Grace Hopper Mary Tyler Freeman Cheek McClenahan G. Anne Richardson Mary Virginia Terhune
2007	Mary Willing Byrd Maybelle Carter Laura Lu Scherer Copenhaver Mary Alice Franklin Hatwood Futrell Mary Jeffery Galt Sheila Crump Johnson Opossunoquonuske Camilla Williams
2008	Frances Culpeper Berkeley Lucy Goode Brooks Providencia Velazquez Gonzalez Elizabeth B. Lacy Sharyn McCrumb P. Buckley Moss Isabel Wood Rogers Edith Turner
2009	Pauline Adams Caroline Bradby Cook Claudia Emerson Drew Gilpin Faust Joann Hess Grayson Mary Randolph Virginia Randolph Mary Sue Terry

2010–2019

2010	Mollie Holmes Adams Ethel Furman Edythe C. Harrison Janis Martin Kate Mason Rowland Jean Miller Skipwith Queena Stovall Marian Van Landingham
2011	Lucy Addison Eleanor Bontecou Emily White Fleming Pearl Fu Lillian Lincoln Bessie Niemeyer Marshall Felicia Warburg Rogan Elizabeth Henry Campbell Russell
2012	Susie May Ames Monica Beltran Christiana Burdett Campbell Betty Sams Christian Elizabeth Peet McIntosh Orelena Hawks Puckett Judith Shatin Alice Jackson Stuart
2013	Mary C. Alexander Louise Archer Elizabeth Ambler Brent Carrington Ann Compton JoAnn Falletta Cleo Powell Inez Pruitt Eva Mae Fleming Scott
2014	Mary Berkeley Minor Blackford Naomi Silverman Cohn Elizabeth Ashburn Duke Rachel Findlay Christine Herter Kendall Mildred Loving Debbie Ryan Stoner Winslett
2015	Nancy Melvina Caldwell Nikki Giovanni Ruth Coles Harris Dorothy Shoemaker McDiarmid Rebekah Dulaney Peterkin Vivian Pinn Elizabeth Bray Allen Smith Stith Karenne Wood
2016	Flora D. Crittenden Mary Elizabeth Nottingham Day Sarah A. Gray Edwilda Gustava Allen Isaac Katherine Johnson Ana Ines Barragan King Betty Masters Meyera Oberndorf
2017	Doris Crouse-Mays Corazon Sandoval Foley Nora Houston Cynthia Eppes Hudson Mary Virginia Jones Louise Harrison McCraw Undine Smith Moore Martha Rollins
2018	Gaye Todd Adegbalola Rita Dove Isabella Gibbons Marii Kyogoku Hasegawa Kay Coles James Barbara Kingsolver Mary Aydelotte Rice Marshall Temperance Flowerdew Yeardley
2019	Sharifa Alkhateeb Queen Ann Claudia Lane Dodson India Hamilton Georgeanna Seegar Jones Ona Maria Judge Lucy Randolph Mason Kate Peters Sturgill

2020–2029

2020	Pauline Adams Fannie Bayly King Elizabeth Dabney Langhorne Lewis Sophie G. Meredith Josephine Mathes Norcom Mary Elizabeth Pidgeon Ora Brown Stokes Lila Meade Valentine Maggie Lena Mitchell Walker
2021	Krista N. Jones Lerla G. Joseph Lillie Louise Boone Lucas Evelyn Reid Syphax

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