Resources for Research on the Desegregation of Virginia Schools

Posted on

Mapping local knowledge, Danville, Va., 1945-75

Mapping local knowledge, Danville, Va., 1945-75

Creator The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities
Description Approximately thirty oral histories explore the civil rights movement in Danville, Virginia. Particular emphasis is placed on the sit-in at the Danville Public Library and subsequent court case that eventually led to the desegregation of the library
Call number
Date from 1998
Date to 2005
Geographic school Danville, VA
Size 30 oral histories
Access restrictions yes/no
Access restrictions
Part Of larger collection yes/no
Larger collection title
URL http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/cslk/danville/index.html
Repository The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities
Repository address Alderman Library, University of Virginia, P.O. Box 400115, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4115
Repository contact name
Repository contact title The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities
Repository contact email
Repository contact phone (434) 924-4527
DoveRegion region7
Subjects o    African American political activists

o    African American politicians

o    African Americans–Civil rights

o    Civil rights movements–Virginia School integration
Types o    Manuscripts

o    Photographs

o    Sound recordings

o    Transcripts
Posted on

Locked out: the fall of massive resistance

Locked out: the fall of massive resistance

Creator Community Idea Stations (WCVE-PBS Richmond)
Description This collection includes 20 to 22 video recordings of about an hour long that were used for the documentary ‘Locked Out’ on school desegregation and massive resistance in Virginia.
Call number
Date from 2009
Date to
Geographic school Virginia
Size 20-22 video recordings
Access restrictions yes/no
Access restrictions
Part Of larger collection yes/no
Larger collection title
URL http://www.aptonline.org/catalog.nsf/vLinkTitle/LOCKED+OUT+THE+FALL+OF+MASSIVE+RESISTANCE
Repository The Community Idea Stations
Repository address 23 Sesame Street, North Chesterfield, VA 23235
Repository contact name
Repository contact title Community Idea Stations
Repository contact email http://ideastations.org/contact-form
Repository contact phone (804) 560-8121
DoveRegion region5
Subjects o    African American students

o    African Americans

o    Civil rights movements

o    School integration–Massive resistance movement

o    School integration

o    Topeka (Kan.). Board of Education–Trials, litigation, etc.

o    Virginia–Politics and government
Types o    Interviews

o    Video recordings
Posted on

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of reporter Ray Moore interviewing United States attorney general Robert F. Kennedy about the Freedom Rides and about school integration, Washington, D.C., 1961

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of reporter Ray Moore interviewing United States attorney general Robert F. Kennedy about the Freedom Rides and about school integration, Washington, D.C., 1961

Creator WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)
Description Reporter: Moore, Ray, 1922-. In this WSB newsfilm clip from the summer of 1961 in Washington, D.C., WSB reporter Ray Moore interviews United States attorney general Robert F. Kennedy about the Freedom Rides and school integration. The clip begins with United States attorney general Robert F. Kennedy sitting in a room with an American flag behind him. WSB reporter Ray Moore appears to be listening to something; in front of him are several pages with portions of text blacked out. The clip breaks a few times before the audio portion of the interview beings. Moore’s first question to Kennedy about riots in Montgomery, Alabama, is incompletely recorded. In response to the question, Kennedy declares the unspecified charges are “simply untrue.” Asked about his relationship with the Freedom Ride sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), Kennedy claims that he first heard about the Freedom Ride on Monday, May 15, 1961, the day after the attack and bus burning in Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama. He asserts that he had not had any prior conversations about the rides with “CORE or anybody else.” According to accounts of the civil rights workers involved in the Freedom Rides, the CORE office sent informational letters about the Freedom Rides two weeks before the May 4 departure from Washington, D.C. They reported sending letters to president John F. Kennedy; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover, attorney general Robert F. Kennedy; the chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and the presidents of Trailways and Greyhound bus companies. CORE received no responses. Simeon Booker, a reporter who traveled with the riders from Washington D.C. also met with Robert Kennedy and his assistant John Seigenthaler the day before the ride began but felt after the visit that the attorney general had not been paying full attention. Kennedy then volunteers to tell Moore about his experience with the Freedom Rides. He opens with the events following the May 14 bus burning in Anniston and the beatings in Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama. According to Kennedy, the Freedom Riders were in Birmingham on Monday, May 15 and were trying to continue their journey to New Orleans. Kennedy reports he spoke with Alabama director of public safety, Floyd Mann, after having been unsuccessful in his attempts to contact Alabama governor John Patterson. Mann was able to get governor Patterson to agree to provide some protection to the Freedom Riders. However, after Kennedy relayed that information to the Freedom Riders and they got on the bus in Birmingham, Mann called Kennedy and told him that the bus driver wouldn’t drive the bus. Kennedy confirms that after hearing from Mann, he called the manager of the Greyhound station in Birmingham, George Cruit, and expressed his desire the Freedom Riders make their trip. Cruit recorded that conversation, and it later received significant attention in Alabama. At this point, Moore interrupts Kennedy to repeat the statements made by George Cruit. At an unspecified hearing about the Freedom Rides, Cruit testified that Kennedy said he had gone to a lot of trouble for the Freedom Riders and would be upset if the riders did not complete their trip to Montgomery. Kennedy admits that he and his staff at the Justice Department had put a lot of effort into getting the Freedom Riders safely from Birmingham to Montgomery. He refutes allegations that his attention to the Freedom Rider’s safety proves that he supported their protest and that they were sent by the Federal government. Kennedy asserts that those allegations are untrue and explains again that he was concerned with the safety of the travelers. Asked about governor Patterson’s assurance that the riders would be safe, Kennedy clarifies that he did not personally speak with governor Patterson. Through Kennedy’s conversations with Mann the governor assured Kennedy that the riders would be protected “and that they wouldn’t have difficulty or
Call number
Date from 1961
Date to 1961
Geographic school Prince Edward County, VA
Size 1 clip (about 22 min.)
Access restrictions yes/no
Access restrictions
Part Of larger collection yes/no
Larger collection title
URL
Repository The Civil Rights Digital Library
Repository address University of Georgia Libraries, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-1641
Repository contact name Dr. P. Toby Graham
Repository contact title Director, Digital Library of Georgia
Repository contact email tgraham@uga.edu
Repository contact phone (706) 583-0213
DoveRegion (outside of Virginia)
Subjects o    African American students

o    African Americans–Civil rights

o    African Americans–Segregation

o    Public schools

o    Race relations

o    School children

o    School closings

o    School integration

o    School integration–Massive resistance movement

o    Segregation in education

o    Kennedy, Robert F., 1925-1968

o    Moore, Ray, 1922-

o    Mann, Floyd H., 1920-1996

o    Patterson, John, 1921 September 27-

o    Cruit, George

o    Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963

o    Seigenthaler, John, 1927-

o    Cook, Eugene, 1904-

o    Reporters and reporting

o    Freedom Rides, 1961
Types Broadcast-Television-News
Posted on

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of reporter Neal Strozier commenting on a public address by Virginal governor J. Lindsay Almond in Richmond, Virginia and on the recent integration of the previously all-white schools in Arlington County and Norfolk, Virginia, 1959 Fe

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of reporter Neal Strozier commenting on a public address by Virginal governor J. Lindsay Almond in Richmond, Virginia and on the recent integration of the previously all-white schools in Arlington County and Norfolk, Virginia, 1959 Fe

Creator WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)
Description Reporter: Strozier, Neal. In this WSB newsfilm clip from February 7, 1959, correspondent Neal Strozier speaking from Arlington County, Virginia, comments on the recent integration of the all-white schools in Arlington County and Norfolk, as well as a public address by governor J. Lindsay Almond in Richmond, Virginia. The clip begins with Strozier standing in front of Stratford Junior High School in Arlington County, Virginia as people enter the school. According to Strozier, twenty-one African American students began attending seven previously all-white schools in Norfolk and Arlington County, Virginia earlier that week. He reports that all seven of the schools are maintaining security precautions. While he speaks, the camera shows a uniformed policeman outside the school. The clip breaks and then shows Strozier again, this time standing in front of the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond. While he speaks, the camera focuses on flags flying above the capitol building and on the legislative chamber and people inside it. Strozier commends the state for its “grace and dignity” during integration. He mentions a public address by governor J. Lindsay Almond on January 28 in which the governor “rejected extremist demands for obstruction at all cost.” For a few moments the clip shows Almond’s January 28 speech. Strozier begins speaking again; while he speaks, the camera returns to Stratford Junior High School in Arlington, Virginia. A policeman stands behind a “No trespassing” sign, and young women in winter clothing carry books and walk past reporters toward the school. African American students, three boys and one girl, get out of a car; the driver makes an adjustment before closing the door. Later the camera shows a Norfolk school where one African American student sits in a classroom with white students as the teacher walks back and forth in front of the classroom. Strozier, speaking again of Almond’s January 28th speech, relays the governor’s call for observance of federal law and for “keeping with Virginia’s tradition of peace and order.” Strozier confirms that local authorities in Arlington County have “shown every determination to keep peace and order” and that there white students are starting to accept their new African American peers. He also reports that schools in Norfolk, which had been closed for half a year to prevent integration are now attended by both white and African American students. While not every student has returned, he notes that those who are in school seem more interested in resuming their education than in the fact of integration. As the camera pans back to focus on Strozier, he states that police in Norfolk and in Arlington are prepared for racial incidents and praises the restraint shown in the communities. The clip audio breaks for a moment, after which Strozier comments that state and local officials surrendered “gracefully” after fighting to the end. He also notes that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) “has refrained from actively pushing integration further south in Virginia where feeling might have run higher.” He explains that both the African American community and white officials want to avoid the rioting and tension that occurred during the 1957 desegregation of Little Rock Central High School. The first lawsuit for school integration in Virginia was filed in 1951 in Prince Edward County. The case was eventually incorporated into the 1954 United States Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, which ruled against segregation in public education. State officials in Virginia, led by United States senator Harry Byrd, organized a plan of “massive resistance” by passing laws designed to prevent desegregation, including closing schools facing desegregation and providing tuition grants to private schools for displaced white students. In the fall of 1958, schools in Norfolk, Charlottesville, and Warren County, Virginia, were closed after the courts ordered the
Call number
Date from 1959 February 07
Date to 1959 February 07
Geographic school Arlington County and Norfolk, VA
Size 1 clip (about 2 min.)
Access restrictions yes/no
Access restrictions
Part Of larger collection yes/no
Larger collection title
URL
Repository The Civil Rights Digital Library
Repository address University of Georgia Libraries, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-1641
Repository contact name Dr. P. Toby Graham
Repository contact title Director, Digital Library of Georgia
Repository contact email tgraham@uga.edu
Repository contact phone (706) 583-0213
DoveRegion (outside of Virginia)
Subjects o    African American students

o    African Americans–Civil rights

o    Almond, J. Lindsay (James Lindsay), 1898-1986

o    Public schools

o    Race relations

o    School children

o    School closings

o    School integration

o    School integration–Massive resistance movement

o    Strozier, Neal

o    National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

o    Central High School (Little Rock, Ark.)

o    Public schools–Virginia–Arlington

o    Public schools–Virginia–Norfolk
Types Broadcast-Television-News
Posted on

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of governor J. Lindsay Almond at a press conference declaring that schools will close if federal troops are sent to enforce desegregation, Richmond, Virginia, 1958 August 21

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of governor J. Lindsay Almond at a press conference declaring that schools will close if federal troops are sent to enforce desegregation, Richmond, Virginia, 1958 August 21

Creator WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)
Description In this WSB newsfilm clip from August 21, 1958, Virginia governor J. Lindsay Almond speaks to reporters at a press conference held in Richmond, Virginia and declares that schools will close if federal troops are sent to enforce desegregation. As the clip begins, Almond is sitting at one end of a table with reporters taking notes at the other end of the table. Almond asserts “there will be no enforced integration in Virginia.” While expressing his respect for president Dwight Eisenhower, he declares without “defiance” that if federal troops are sent to Virginia to enforce court-ordered desegregation, he will close the schools. Governor Almond held a press conference on August 21 in response to comments made by president Eisenhower the day before. According to newspaper reports, Eisenhower declared it was “the solemn duty of all Americans to comply with the Supreme Court’s order to end racial discrimination in public schools.” In other comments made during the press conference and not recorded in this newsfilm clip, Almond defends education as “a state matter” and maintains that desegregation “would destroy the process of education.” During his comments, he asked for support of a state policy against racial integration in public schools. School integration lawsuits in Virginia began in 1951 in Prince Edward County. That case was eventually incorporated into the United States Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education. Almond, who was Virginia attorney general at the time, was one of the lawyers who argued in favor of segregated education. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled against segregation in public education. State officials in Virginia organized a plan of “massive resistance” to court-ordered desegregation, passing laws requiring integrated schools to close and providing tuition grants to white students displaced by school desegregation. In the fall of 1958, nine white public schools closed in Norfolk, Charlottesville, and Warren County, Virginia. On January 20, 1959, both state and federal courts overturned the state law requiring integrated schools to close. After the ruling, Almond called a special legislative session during which he announced the end of the “massive resistance” campaign. The following Monday, February 2, 1959, seven schools in Arlington and Norfolk integrated. Title supplied by cataloger. The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for digital conversion and description of the WSB-TV Newsfilm Collection.
Call number
Date from 1958 August 21
Date to 1958 August 21
Geographic school Virginia
Size 1 clip (about 1 min.)
Access restrictions yes/no
Access restrictions
Part Of larger collection yes/no
Larger collection title
URL
Repository The Civil Rights Digital Library
Repository address University of Georgia Libraries, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-1641
Repository contact name Dr. P. Toby Graham
Repository contact title Director, Digital Library of Georgia
Repository contact email tgraham@uga.edu
Repository contact phone (706) 583-0213
DoveRegion (outside of Virginia)
Subjects o    African American students

o    African Americans–Civil rights

o    African Americans–Segregation

o    Almond, J. Lindsay (James Lindsay), 1898-1986

o    Public schools

o    Race relations

o    School children

o    School closings

o    School integration

o    School integration–Massive resistance movement

o    Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969

o    Public schools–Virginia–Prince Edward County

o    Public schools–Virginia–Norfolk

o    Public schools–Virginia–Charlottesville

o    Public schools–Virginia–Warren County
Types Broadcast-Television-News
Posted on

Reed Sarratt papers

Reed Sarratt papers

Creator Sarratt, Reed
Description Correspondence, writings, notes, and other items of North Carolina journalist Reed Sarratt, whose career took him from editorial posts at the Charlotte News and the Winston-Salem Journal and Twin City Sentinel to directorships of the Southern Education Reporting Service and the Southern Newspaper Publishers’ Association. Sarratt’s chief editorial interest was civil rights, and he was particularly involved in monitoring the desegregation of public schools.
Call number #4549
Date from 1930s
Date to
Geographic school Virginia
Size 22.5 ft. (ca. 11,200 items)
Access restrictions yes/no yes
Access restrictions To be used only with special assistance from Technical Services staff.
Part Of larger collection yes/no
Larger collection title
URL http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/s/Sarratt,Reed.html
Repository Southern Historical Collection
Repository address 4th Floor, Wilson Library, CB# 3926, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
Repository contact name Tim West
Repository contact title Director of the Southern Historical Collection
Repository contact email wilsonlibrary@unc.edu
Repository contact phone (919) 962-1345
DoveRegion (outside of Virginia)
Subjects o    African American students

o    African Americans–Civil rights

o    African Americans–Segregation

o    Public schools

o    Race relations

o    School children

o    School integration

o    Segregation in education

o    Sarratt, Reed

o    Journalists

o    Newspapers–North Carolina–Charlotte

o    Newspapers–North Carolina–Winston-Salem

o    Southern Education Reporting Service

o    Southern Newspaper Publishers Association

o    Public schools–North Carolina
Types o    Correspondence

o    Legal documents
Posted on

Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament papers

Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament papers

Creator Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament
Description Collection documents the missions and missionary work of Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, formally known as Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People. Of note are documents related to two African American high schools operated by the order. St. Francis de Sales at Mt. Pleasant, a high school for young black women opened in 1893 and St. Emma Military Academy, in Belmead, a school for young black men, opened in 1895. The schools closed in 1970, largely because of the desegregation of public schools in Virginia. The collection also includes the papers of the Francis A. Drexel Family 1858-1945; the writings of St. Katherine Drexel; photographs and glass lantern slides of both schools and Saint Katherine. Saint Katharine Drexel papers include documentation about the only African American Roman Catholic college in the country, Xavier University of Louisiana, which she founded.
Call number
Date from 1858
Date to current
Geographic school Powhatan County
Size
Access restrictions yes/no no
Access restrictions Y
Part Of larger collection yes/no no
Larger collection title
URL
Repository Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament
Repository address St. Catherine Building, 1663 Bristol Pike, Bensaelm, PA 19020
Repository contact name Stephanie Morris
Repository contact title Director, Archives
Repository contact email sbsarchives@aol.com
Repository contact phone (215) 244-9900 ext. 352
DoveRegion (outside of Virginia)
Subjects o    African American students

o    Private schools
Types o    Diaries

o    Financial records

o    Oral History

o    Organizational Records

o    Photographs

o    Speeches
Posted on

Randolph-Macon College/Boydton Institute heritage project

Randolph-Macon College/Boydton Institute heritage project

Creator Randolph-Macon College
Description This collection consists of five interviews relating to the Boydton Institute, including one of Wyatt Tee Walker, a member of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s leadership circle. He discusses his memories of Vernon Johns in particular.
Call number
Date from 2010
Date to
Geographic school Mecklenburg County, VA
Size 5 interviews
Access restrictions yes/no
Access restrictions
Part Of larger collection yes/no
Larger collection title
URL http://library.rmc.edu/specialcollections/specialcollections.html
Repository Randolph-Macon College, Flavia Reed Owen Special Collections and Archives
Repository address McGraw-Page Library, Randolph-Macon College, P.O. Box 5005, Ashland, VA 23005-5505
Repository contact name
Repository contact title Randolph-Macon College. Special Collections
Repository contact email archives@rmc.edu
Repository contact phone (804) 752-3203
DoveRegion region5
Subjects o    African American schools

o    African American students

o    African Americans–Education (Higher)

o    Boydton (Va.)

o    Civil rights–Religious aspects–Christianity

o    Johns, Vernon, 1892-1965

o    King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968

o    Segregation in education
Types o    Interviews

o    Manuscripts

o    Sound recordings

o    Transcripts
Posted on

One Ashland, many voices oral history project 

One Ashland, many voices oral history project 

Creator Randolph-Macon College. McGraw-Page Library. Special Collections
Description This project contains oral histories taken in celebration of the town’s sesquicentennial anniversary, including an interview with Melvin Hall, the first African American high school principal in Ashland after school integration.
Call number
Date from 2008
Date to
Geographic school Ashland, VA
Size 42 transcripts; 46 digital sound recordings (available in both mp3 and wav formats)
Access restrictions yes/no
Access restrictions
Part Of larger collection yes/no
Larger collection title
URL http://library.rmc.edu/specialcollections/digcoll/OneAshland/OneAshland.html
Repository Randolph-Macon College, Flavia Reed Owen Special Collections and Archives
Repository address McGraw-Page Library, Randolph-Macon College, P.O. Box 5005, Ashland, VA 23005-5505
Repository contact name
Repository contact title Randolph-Macon College. Special Collections
Repository contact email archives@rmc.edu
Repository contact phone (804) 752-3203
DoveRegion region5
Subjects o    African American educators

o    Ashland (Va.)

o    School integration
Types o    Interviews

o    Sound recordings

o    Transcripts
Posted on

Charles Knox Martin Jr. Official Papers 

Charles Knox Martin Jr. Official Papers 

Creator Charles Martin
Description Dr. Martin was President of Radford during much of the period of desegregation. His official papers, however, contain only one folder related to desegregation. Titled “Integration” the folder contains requests from African-American women for admission to Radford; statistical information on the number of segregated or desegregated institutions of higher learning in Virginia in 1963; an advance copy of remarks on desegregation prepared by Ted Dalton for delivery at the March 1957 Republican State Central Committee Meeting; an issuance from the president of Lynchburg College regarding the participation of Lynchburg students in a sit-in; an inquiry from the principal of a Warren County high school about the eligibility of seniors unable to complete high school because of school closing for consideration for admission to Radford: and other matters related to integration between 1950 and 1964.
Call number RU 2.3
Date from 1952
Date to 1972
Geographic school Radford, VA
Size 3 linear feet
Access restrictions yes/no no
Access restrictions
Part Of larger collection yes/no yes
Larger collection title
URL http://lib.radford.edu/archives/findingaids/MartinPapers.html
Repository Radford University, University Archives and Special Collections
Repository address P.O. Box 6881, Radford, VA 24142
Repository contact name Gene Hyde
Repository contact title Archivist
Repository contact email wehyde@radford.edu
Repository contact phone (540) 831-5692
DoveRegion region1
Subjects o    African American students

o    African Americans–Civil rights

o    African Americans–Segregation

o    Public schools

o    Race relations

o    School children

o    School closings

o    School integration

o    School integration–Massive resistance movement

o    Segregation in education

o    Dalton, Ted

o    Martin, Charles K. (Charles Knox), 1909-

o    Radford University

o    women students

o    Public schools–Virginia–Warren County

o    Lynchburg College
Types o    Correspondence

o    Legal documents