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A little-known challenge to bus segregation that began at a Wolf Trap farm in 1944 is now memorialized at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens.
NOVA Parks and the Virginia and Fairfax County NAACP unveiled an interpretive plaque at the gardens, 9750 Meadowlark Gardens Court, on Feb. 5. It honors four Howard University students who were arrested after refusing to move to the back of a bus 11 years before Rosa Parks took a similar stand in Montgomery, Alabama.
The confrontation followed a May 14, 1944, picnic hosted by Caroline Ware, a Howard University professor of constitutional history and social sciences. Ware’s 74-acre property, known simply as “The Farm,” later became the foundation of Meadowlark Botanical Gardens.
After the picnic, Ware drove eight students to a bus stop on Beulah Road for their return trip to Washington, D.C. The students sat at the front of the bus, defying Virginia’s Jim Crow rules requiring Black passengers to sit in the rear.
When ordered to move, freshmen Ruby O’Hara, Ruth Anne Robinson, Doris King and Cynthia Kennedy complied. Older students Marianne Musgrave, Ruth Powell, Angela Jones and Erma McLemore remained in their seats and were arrested by Fairfax County police.
Ware raised $400 for bail, using her farm as surety, and contacted the NAACP to arrange legal representation.
At a June 2, 1944, trial, NAACP attorney Leon Ransom argued that a bus traveling between states should fall under federal law, which did not require segregation, rather than Virginia law. The students lost both the trial and an appeal in Fairfax County Circuit Court.
Before the dispute advanced to the state level, however, Fairfax County’s commonwealth’s attorney dropped the charges. The decision may have reflected concern that a higher court could strike down the Jim Crow law.
In 1946, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled segregation on interstate public transportation unconstitutional, relying on the same interstate-commerce reasoning Ransom had raised.
After losing their circuit court appeal, the students asked Ware to drive past the Lincoln Memorial. There, they called out, “Abe, here we are, still at it!”—a reference to Abraham Lincoln and the continuing struggle for freedom after emancipation.
Research uncovers Meadowlark’s hidden history
The park’s connection to the civil rights movement emerged through research by NOVA Parks historian Paul McCray.
While researching Meadowlark online in November, McCray discovered a collection of letters between Ware and activist and legal scholar Pauli Murray. Murray met Ware while studying law at Howard and helped bring her into civil rights activism.
A reference in those letters led McCray to search books, historic newspapers from Virginia and Washington, court appeal documents and Fairfax County police arrest records. Fairfax County sheriff’s records from 1944 had already been destroyed.
McCray said some details were confirmed only weeks before the plaque’s unveiling and that he hopes Howard University may have additional records about the students.
Ware and her husband, Gardiner Means, donated The Farm to NOVA Parks in 1980 with instructions to preserve its natural beauty. The regional park authority later added 21 acres, and Meadowlark Botanical Gardens officially opened in 1987.
The new sign is part of NOVA Parks’ five-year effort to promote diversity through historical exhibits, public programming and community partnerships.
Speakers connect past and present
The ceremony coincided with the start of Black History Month and followed Transit Equity Day, observed each Feb. 4 on Rosa Parks’ birthday. Established by the Labor Network for Sustainability in 2017, the observance promotes public transportation that is accessible, safe and environmentally sustainable.
Jasmine Carr, a cousin of Parks and co-chair of the Fairfax County NAACP membership committee, said the students belonged to a longer tradition of resistance that also included figures such as Claudette Colvin.
Carr said progress depends on nurturing future leaders and remembering history, expressing hope that the four women’s courage would inspire others.
Karen Campblin, environmental and climate justice chair for the NAACP Virginia State Conference, said the students’ contribution extended well beyond their single act of resistance.
Speakers also argued that the history carries renewed significance as civil rights protections and diversity, equity and inclusion programs face challenges.
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff McKay pointed to the county’s One Fairfax policy, adopted in 2017, which directs officials to consider equity when designing programs and delivering services. He recalled meeting a Route 1 resident who said a new neighborhood bus stop gave her access to a better-paying job.
McKay said the policy signals the county’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion—and to ensuring that everyone feels welcome in the community.