USDC, Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, Civil Action Case #2819- Lorna Renee Warden et al vs. the School Board of the City of Richmond, Virginia, et al
| Creator | USDC, Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division |
| Description | Prior to the start of the 1958-59 school year, each of the infant plaintiffs timely applied for admission to Richmond City public schools as resident citizens. The schools to which they applied were exclusively maintained and attended by whites; the defendants did not gain admission and were subsequently assigned to all-black institutions. The Defendants owned, maintained and operated forty elementary schools, eight junior high schools, four senior high schools and six special schools within the City of Richmond. School children “classified as Negroes had been permitted to attend only eighteen of the elementary schools, three of the junior high schools, two of the senior high schools and one of the special schools” enrollment at the remainder of the institutions was available exclusively to those children not classified as Negroes. The plaintiff’s argued that they were denied liberty without due process of the law and the equal protection guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. When questioned why Daisy Jane Cooper (plaintiff), age nine’s, transfer from George Washington Carver Elementary School to the Westhampton School was denied by the Pupil Placement Board, the Division Superintendent acknowledged that “had the Cooper child been a white child living at the same address” I presume she would have attended the Westhampton School. The Court concluded that this was a clear case of discrimination based on race as the only reason the Cooper child was denied her transfer was because she was black. It was decided that the Commonwealth’s Pupil Placement Board’s policy and practices were unconstitutional and thereby granted Cooper admission to the Westhampton School. Cooper was admitted to the institution as an individual, not as a class or group; all of the original plaintiffs with the exception of the Cooper’s voluntarily withdrew from the case. |
| Call number | Civil Action Case #2819 |
| Date from | 1958 |
| Date to | 1962 |
| Geographic school | Richmond, VA |
| Size | unknown |
| Access restrictions yes/no | |
| Access restrictions | |
| Part Of larger collection yes/no | |
| Larger collection title | |
| URL | |
| Repository | NARA Mid-Atlantic Region |
| Repository address | 14700 Townsend Road, Philadelphia, PA 19154-1096 |
| Repository contact name | David Weber |
| Repository contact title | Director, Records Management Program |
| Repository contact email | philadelphia.reference@nara.gov |
| Repository contact phone | (215) 305-2000 |
| DoveRegion | (outside of Virginia) |
| Subjects | o African American students
o African Americans–Civil rights o Public schools o School children o School integration o Segregation in education o Virginia. Pupil Placement Board |
| Types | o Correspondence
o Legal documents |