My ancestors, Great Aunt Julia and cousin Magnolia on the grounds of the Hampden Sydney Freedom School. In the Pyramid gallery, this printed image is paired with her actual handwriting featured in an application to teach in Freedom Schools in Virginia in the late 1950s. In spite of the 1954 Supreme Court ruling in favor of desegregation of public schools, these teacher application instructions give context to the necessity of creating these schools for African American students at that time.

PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY PRIVATE SCHOOL EMPLOYMENT FORM

Note: These schools will offer an unusual opportunity and also a difficult challenge.
The children have had no schooling for 2, 3, or 4 years. This is not an application in the
normal sense of the term. The form will, however, expedite selection of a staff from
people who have been asked, as you have, whether they would be willing to devote a
year to the education of some children of 9 or 10 who have never been to school and
others of varying ages who have lost 4 years of schooling…

Since many of the Prince Edward County children have had no schooling since 1959,
the operation of a private school there next year on an integrated basis poses
special problems and will challenge the ablest of teachers. It will be helpful if you
will state any special comments you wish to make...

A second letter paired with the print contains this quote from personal correspondence from Julia Jasper (Hudson) Anderson of Farmville Virginia on February 14, 1977 to her niece Laura Bigger Womack of Washington D.C.:
Yes, we watched “Roots”. It was very hard for me to take. I have heard people
talk about slavery but I never pictured it in my mind like that. I admired their
determination to be free and to remember their family roots. It’s more than
I can recall. My Grand parents (sic) were slaves. Grandpa’s name was Peter Branch.
His wife was Dinah. They had a son James Branch, two daughters, Mittie and
Henrietta (my mother). There may have been more children, but I don’t know
about them.

From Julia Jasper (Hudson) Anderson's 1987 Obituary:
Julia Jasper (Hudson) Anderson was born the fifteenth of seventeen children on February 17, 1897 to John and Henrietta Hudson in Prince Edward county, Virginia where most of her life was spent. She was educated in the public schools of Prince Edward County and at Virginia State College in Petersburg, Virginia, where she received both Bachelors and Masters degrees. Almost all of her active years were spent attending and/or teaching school. In 1920 she taught for one year in Sussex County, Virginia. For thirty five years she taught in the Prince Edward County public schools and retired in 1966. She was a caring and dedicated teacher as she gave untiringly toward helping our youth develop to their fullest.