| Description |
The collection spans the years 1963-1973 and consists of court papers and legal files relating to the 1963 civil rights demonstrations in Danville. These files include bills of particulars, bond records, correspondence, court dockets, court orders, dicta-belts, evidence, judgments, petitions, photographs, receipts, subpoenas, and transcripts of testimony that document the legal aspects of the demonstrations from the Danville Corporation Court to the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. The summer of 1963 witnessed a wave of civil rights demonstrations throughout the nation. In Danville, Virginia, the leaders of the Danville Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), inspired by events in Birmingham, Alabama, organized a series of protests of their own. Rev. Lawrence G. Campbell, Rev. Alexander I. Dunlap, Julius E. Adams, and Arthur Pinchback, believing that the Danville NAACP under the leadership of Doyle Thomas was too conservative, had founded the Danville SCLC in 1960. These men, along with Rev. Lendall W. Chase, president of the Danville SCLC, took the lead in promoting civil rights in Danville, a city deep in Virginia’s black belt and strong in segregationist sentiment. Throughout 1962, they repeatedly appeared before the Danville City Council to demand black representation on the boards of city agencies and the end of segregation. In August 1962, Campbell, Dunlap, Adams, and Chase signed the Danville Omnibus Integration Suit, filed in federal court that called for the integration of Danville’s hospitals, schools, cemeteries, public buildings, public housing projects, teaching assignments, and city employment opportunities. |
| Subjects |
o African American students
o African Americans–Civil rights
o Public schools
o Race relations
o School children
o School integration
o Segregation in education
o Segregation in higher education
o Southern Christian Leadership Conference
o National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
o Danville Omnibus Integration Suit
o Circuit courts–Virginia |
