Rita Odom Moseley was attending Prince Edward County Public School System in 1959 when local school leaders closed the public school for five years (1959-1964). She was unable to attend school and get an education for two years. She was taken by her parent to Blacksburg, Virginia, where she attended what would be considered a middle school, graduating as salutatorian. Still living in Blacksburg, the next year she attended the Christiansburg Industrial Institute, CII. She lived with two elderly ladies, a mother and daughter, who Rita’s family did not know. The mother was 81 years old, whom Rita stayed with while the daughter worked in a nearby town during the week. The mother died at the age of 107. Rita returned home in 1963 to attend the Free School until the public school reopened and graduated in the class of 1967 from Robert R. Moton High School.

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On May 11, 2008, she graduated second in a class of 92 students in the Adult Accelerated Program at Saint Paul’s College, with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Degree. In 2013, she earned a Master of Arts Human Services: Executive Leadership Degree from Liberty University. Both degrees were funded by the Brown v Board of Education Scholarship Program that was available to all persons who were directly affected by the closing of the public schools from 1959-1964. Rita worked for Prince Edward County Public School System for 35 years before her retirement in 2013.