Elizabeth
Johnson Rice
Alumna Elizabeth Johnson Rice of the “Richmond 34”: Civil
Rights Pioneer; Community Activist; Educator.
Elizabeth Johnson Rice graduated from Virginia Union University
in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. Her
mother, Elizabeth Jones Johnson was for many years a professor
of Commerce in the Division of the Social Sciences at VUU,
and her father, Dr. Ford Tucker Johnson, Sr., a respected
dentist in Richmond.
On February 22, 1960 Betty Johnson, as she was known to her
family, friends and classmates, was among the 200 students
from Virginia Union University who had the courage to walk
from the campus to the then-bustling downtown area of Richmond
as a crucial episode of the growing sit-in movement. Attempting
to integrate the prestigious Richmond Room Restaurant at Thalhimer’s
Department Store at 7th & Broad Streets, Betty Johnson and
33 other students were subjected to mockery and abuse, and
then taken to prison on charges of “trespassing”. The incarceration
of the “Richmond 34” captured national attention, marked the
first mass arrests of the Civil Rights Movement, and set into
motion a determined Campaign for Human Dignity which had,
through boycotts, demonstrations and other forms of non-violent
protest, largely succeeded in desegregating major businesses
in the city within a year.
Betty Johnson was one of five Virginia Union students who
were founder members of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC) in April of 1960; and was chosen to appear
in front of a nationwide audience on the Today Show to defend
the Civil Rights Movement and to attack the “Jim Crow” system.
She went on to earn her Master of Arts degree in Teaching
from Virginia State College in 1967; and, 1999, an Administration
1 Certification for Assistant Principal from Bowie State University.
She married the Reverend Richard Rice, another VUU alumnus.
Reverend and Mrs. Rice have two children and, currently, four
grandchildren.
Mrs. Rice’s career as a teacher/administrator in Virginia,
Maryland and Washington, D. C. began in 1964 when she became
a Teacher Intern for Biology at Peabody High School in Petersburg,
Virginia, and continues to this day – she is presently Teacher
of Science at Coolidge High School in Washington, D.C. She
is the founder of the Rice Reading Program, which was originally
conceived to address problems of adult literacy, but which
she expanded to bring in middle and high school students.
In 1961 she was President of the Non-Profit Tomorrow’s World
Foundation; from 1974-75, the Acting Chief of Emergency Medical
Services in Washington, D. C. ; and Marketing Director for
Koba Associates in 1986. She is the founder and organizer
of the BPOS (Be Part of the Solution) Program, and recently
delivered the Luncheon Address at the VUU-sponsored historical
conference, Legacy of Brown vs. the Board of Education, where
she received a standing ovation.
The year 2005 will be notable as the occasion to recognize
and celebrate two anniversaries: the 140th Anniversary of
the Founding of Virginia Union University; and the 45th of
the Richmond Sit-ins, in which Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson Rice
and her VUU classmates played so courageous a role, changing
the course of history.
