This month’s cover features an image of demonstrators during nonviolent civil rights protests in Farmville, Virginia, held during summer 1963 in response to the 1959 closing of Prince Edward County public schools in defiance of court-ordered desegregation. The image is part of Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries’ Freedom Now Project, featuring 277 images from the protests.

The photographs were taken by a photographer hired by the Farmville Police Department for use as evidence in the case of arrests. The libraries invited the public to participate in the project by sharing information about people and locations in the image set. The full set of images, along with information, is available at www.library.vcu.edu/research/special-collections/exhibits/freedom-now/.