American History 101
William Raspberry's op-ed column on reparations for blacks in the USA, in today's Washington Post, includes a history lesson that merits more attention than it has received. He tells of "Prince Edward County, Va., where what we used to call the 'white power structure' shut down the public schools rather than integrate them in accordance with the 1954 school desegregation decision. The schools remained closed from 1959 until 1964, during which time there was no tax-paid education for black children. (White youngsters were sent to a newly established 'private' academy.)"