(soft music) STEVEN WEITZMAN: If you read the story about Barbara Johns, it's extraordinary.

It's so heroic.

ADRIENNE McGIBBON: Artist Steven Weitzman is putting the finishing touches on a statue of Barbara Johns.

She was 16 and attending the segregated Moton High School in Farmville when she decided to take a stand.

STEVEN WEITZMAN: And here you had a young lady that just was just fed up with the inequities of the school system and promises made, but not kept.

ADRIENNE McGIBBON: In 1951, she gathered 400 classmates into their school auditorium and called for a walkout.

STEVEN WEITZMAN: And the story is what created the design, or the concept behind this sculpture.

ADRIENNE McGIBBON: Once completed, this statue is destined for the U.S. Capitol.

Barbara Johns will be one of two people representing Virginia in Statuary Hall, replacing a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

Johns died in 1991.

Recently, her sister, Joan, shared her family story with a group of Virginia teachers.

(audience applauds) JOAN JOHNS COBBS: I thought that the white community would try to harm us, and I was worried that our parents would discipline us too.

They were shocked, but in some ways they weren't so surprised because they knew Barbara was outspoken.

ADRIENNE McGIBBON: For her safety.

Johns finished high school with family in Alabama.

She went on to attend Spelman College, married, had five children, and worked as a librarian.

117 students at Moton joined as plaintiffs in the US Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education, which ended racial segregation in schools.

JULIE LANGAN: It was easy to reach consensus.

ADRIENNE McGIBBON: Julie Langan was part of the commission that decided to put Johns in Statuary Hall.

JULIE LANGAN: The commission was looking for a subject that really represents Virginia today.

JOAN JOHNS COBBS: And I think the fact that they chose her was one way they're trying to rectify what happened in the past.