When most people think of the Civil Rights Movement, they picture the American Deep South: Birmingham, Selma, and Montgomery. But across the Monongahela National Forest region, a parallel story unfolded – one of resistance, integration, education battles, and groundbreaking legal victories that shaped the movement’s trajectory long before the 1960s.
From a remote federal prison where a young minister discovered his calling, to integrated New Deal work camps that defied Jim Crow, to courtroom battles that preceded Brown v. Board of Education by more than 50 years, this mountain landscape witnessed critical moments in the long struggle for equality.
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Rev. James Lawson and the Mill Point Federal Prison
Before it became the Cranberry Glades Botanical Area, one of the Monongahela’s most beloved natural sites, this remote corner of Pocahontas County served an entirely different purpose. The Mill Point Federal Prison operated here from 1938 to 1959 as a minimum-security federal camp. Its isolated setting amid deep wetlands and bogs eliminated the need for fences, earning it the nickname “the prison without walls.“
Among the conscientious objectors incarcerated at Mill Point from 1951 to 1952 was James M. Lawson Jr., who would become one of the Civil Rights Movement’s most influential strategists. At Mill Point, performing hard labor alongside other conscientious objectors, Lawson deepened his commitment to nonviolent resistance principles that would later guide his training of activists who led sit-ins across the South.
"The leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world"
After his release, Lawson became the movement’s premier teacher of nonviolent tactics, personally training the students who desegregated lunch counters in Nashville and beyond. Martin Luther King Jr. called him “the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world.” That theoretical foundation was partially forged in isolation, in what is now a pristine wetland ecosystem along the Cowpasture Trail.
Another notable inmate was Howard Fast, an author who once worked for the Office of War Information and Voice of America before being brought before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1950 for his expression of Communist sympathies during the Spanish Civil War. Fast’s bestselling novel “Spartacus” was written at Mill Point, and his later works became civil rights staples – including novels on the plight of the Cheyenne Indians and former slaves in the Reconstruction South. Fast is perhaps best known for his contributions to constitutionalism and the importance of the 5th ammendment.
Breaking the Color Line: CCC Integration in the Mon Forest
The Civilian Conservation Corps camps that built much of the Monongahela National Forest’s infrastructure in the 1930s also became testing grounds for integration, years before it became official policy.
Established in 1933, Camp Randolph was among the few racially integrated CCC companies in West Virginia. The camp’s enrollees helped develop some of the forest’s most iconic sites: Stuart Recreation Area, Bickle Knob, and the Monongahela Stone Gateway that still welcomes visitors on Route 33. After Camp Randolph closed following just one year of service, many enrollees transferred to Camp Cranberry or Camp Woodbine, both considered among the most remote CCC deployments in the forest near Richwood and the Cranberry Backcountry.
Camp Woodbine maintained integration with 13 African American company members during the 1933-1935 period. This experiment in workplace equality ended when segregation became the CCC’s official policy in 1935. Yet the precedent had been set. The opportunity for equal pay and anti-discrimination practices during the New Deal era established new expectations for employment that would influence labor movements for decades to come.
Carrie Williams, J.R. Clifford, and the First Battle for School Desegregation
More than 50 years before Brown v. Board of Education, a Tucker County schoolteacher and a Grant County lawyer fought the first legal battle for educational equality in West Virginia – and won.
When the Tucker County Board of Education imposed restrictions on African American students in Coketon, local schoolteacher Carrie Williams refused to accept the decision. She sought legal help from J.R. Clifford, a tenacious lawyer and Grant County native who, after meetings at the Parsons courthouse, would become the first African American lawyer to argue a case before the West Virginia Supreme Court.
"If the colored child is entitled to attend the public school, he is entitled to all the rights and privileges of a white child."
This legal groundwork, established in the mountain courtrooms of the Mon Forest region, would echo through American jurisprudence for generations. Visitors can spot a portrait of Carrie in a mural and learn more about her fight at Thomas‘ Buxton & Landstreet Gallery, located at the northern terminus of the Blackwater Canyon Rail Trail.
Watoga, Seebert School, Pearl S. Buck, and the Intersection of Rights Movements
Across Pocahontas County and the surrounding region, the stories of women’s rights, civil rights, and children’s rights converge in unexpected ways.
The Watoga Community, now transformed into Watoga State Park, represents African American efforts toward self-determination, land ownership, and freedom from discrimination. The community’s story illustrates the complex reality of Black life in rural Appalachia, where families sought refuge from urban discrimination while building their own institutions and social networks. Additional remote Afro-Appalachian communities are also found in Pendleton County, near the town of Franklin, where Moatstown and Entry Mountain have established distinctive mountain traditions.
Established on a former logging camp that had left the landscape thoroughly denuded, Watoga faced relatively short growing seasons and poor soil, which made life difficult for early residents, and much of the community had been abandoned by the 1950s. Although little remains within the state park, visitors can see the last remnants of the settlement along the 78-mile Greenbrier River Trail south of Marlinton.
Nearby, photographs of the Seebert School became an iconic touchstone of the child labor protection movement when Lewis W. Hine documented the lives of young students in a one-room schoolhouse as part of his work with the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC), helping galvanize national attention to education access and child welfare.
“To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and a whole heart and a free mind.”
Down the road, the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Museum celebrates the Nobel Prize-winning author and activist who spent her childhood in Hillsboro before becoming a global advocate for women’s rights and racial equality. Buck’s early years in this region shaped her understanding of injustice and informed her lifelong activism.
Together, these sites around the historic Pleasant Green Church constitute a constellation of progress in which civil rights, women’s rights, and children’s rights movements intersected, influencing national conversations.
Katherine Johnson: From White Sulphur Springs to the Stars
Born in White Sulphur Springs in 1918, Katherine Johnson grew up in the Mon Forest region before her extraordinary mathematical abilities propelled her to NASA, where her calculations proved critical to John Glenn’s orbital mission and the Apollo program.
Johnson’s story, made famous by the film “Hidden Figures,” demonstrates how talent flourished even in the face of segregation and discrimination. Her precision and perseverance in the face of institutional barriers made her a lasting symbol of both scientific excellence and civil rights progress. That her journey began in the Greenbrier Valley adds another dimension to the region’s civil rights legacy.
"I didn't have time for segregation"
Visitors can learn more about Katherine Johnson at the White Sulphur Springs Library, which features a special exhibit covering her life and work, or visit the Maple Street Historic District and Bolling School in downtown Lewisburg for a deeper examination of West Virginia’s Black history.
Visiting with Respect
These civil rights heritage sites deserve the same care and reverence as any historic landmark. While some locations, such as Watoga State Park and the Cranberry Glades Botanical Area, welcome visitors, others remain private property or sensitive cultural sites.
When exploring this history:
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- Research sites before visiting and respect posted boundaries
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- Many historic African American communities, churches, and cemeteries are still active and sacred spaces—visit only with permission and appropriate context
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- Leave no trace at historic sites; do not remove artifacts or disturb structures
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- Consider supporting local historical societies and museums that preserve these stories
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- If you’re unsure whether a site is open to the public, contact local historical societies or visitor centers first
The civil rights legacy of the Mon Forest region belongs to the communities who lived this history. Our role as visitors is to learn, honor, and help preserve these stories for future generations!
Mon Forest Civil Rights Sites Map
Use the interactive map below to discover more about historic civil rights locations in the Mon Forest Towns region, or visit our itineraries page for heritage-themed travel guides.