NBFA President Visits Historic Lucy Middle School

By Joe Dashiell

ROANOKE, Va.— A 30-year fight against discrimination culminated with a billion dollar settlement between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the nation's black farmers. Friday, a central figure in that struggle urged Roanoke students to "never give up."

John Boyd is the Mecklenburg County farmer who became the leading voice of the movement, as the founder and President of the National Black Farmers Association. Friday afternoon, he toured Lucy Addison Aerospace Magnet School, and told a group of sixth graders that perseverance was crucial to the group's success.

"It's been very, very important," Boyd said in an interview. "Like I was telling the students this morning," he said, "it's very easy to give up, but it's very hard to finish something."

Boyd will also speak to the Roanoke Branch of the NAACP Saturday, when the civil rights group holds its 61st Life Membership Luncheon.