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Records of the President, Walter S. Newman (Virginia Tech)

Records of the President, Walter S. Newman

Creator Walter S. Newman
Description The Records of the Office of the President, Walter S. Newman (1895 to 1978) span the years 1947 to 1962, with the bulk of the material dating from 1947 to 1961. The collection consists primarily of Newman’s General Correspondence. Also included, and interfiled with general correspondence, are budget requests and statements, financial reports, enrollment statistics, architects’ contracts, audits, commencement and inaugural ephemera, statements to the Federal Power Commission, a few photographs, and reports on Virginia’s public school system submitted to the Moses Commission. These records include Correspondence with Virginia Attorney General Lindsay Almond and Director of Admissions Paul Farrier in the early 1950s documents the University’s strategy in response to efforts to challenge segregation in Virginia’s public schools and universities and the decision to admit Irving L. Peddrew III, the first black student enrolled at Virginia Tech. Files labeled “Racial Relations” from 1951 and 1952 document Newman’s attempts, which proved unsuccessful, to help the defense in Dorothy Davis v. County School Board, Prince Edward County by providing historical evidence of equality of resources within segregation. A file of correspondence from 1961 with Mary Fessler, President of the Blacksburg Branch of the American Association of University Women, records Newman’s decision to bar the organization from meeting on campus due after a black woman joined.
Call number RG 2/10
Date from 1947
Date to 1962
Geographic school Blacksburg, VA
Size 23.25 cu. ft. ; 24 boxes, 1 folder
Access restrictions yes/no no
Access restrictions
Part Of larger collection yes/no no
Larger collection title
URL http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/vt/viblbv00086.xml.frame
Repository Virginia Tech Special Collections
Repository address University Libraries, P.O. Box 90001, Blacksburg, VA 24062-9001
Repository contact name Aaron D. Purcell
Repository contact title Director, Special Collections
Repository contact email specref@vt.edu
Repository contact phone (540) 231-6308
DoveRegion region1
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 integration

o    Segregation in higher education

o    Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

o    American Association of University Women

o    Newman, Walter S. (Walter Stephenson), 1895-1978
Types o    Correspondence

o    Legal documents
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USDC, Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, Civil Action Case # 1333-Davis et al vs. County School Board of Prince Edward County 

USDC, Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, Civil Action Case # 1333-Davis et al vs. County School Board of Prince Edward County 

Creator USDC, Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division
Description The Dorothy Davis case raised the issue of equality between the county’s white and non-white schools. Prince Edward County, Virginia, had three high schools at the time: the whites-only Farmville and Worsham high schools, and the blacks-only Moton High School. As demonstrated by testimony and photographs, the educational facilities and courses were decidedly not equal. When the U.S. District Court ruled in favor of the defendants, the plaintiffs appealed to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Eventually, the Dorothy Davis case became one of the five cases decided by the United States Supreme Court under the name of Brown v. Board of Education. Having decided in Brown that the separate but equal doctrine laid out in previous decisions was no longer valid, the Supreme Court ordered the desegregation of all public school districts. However, the decree from the United States District Court allowed Prince Edward County to continue operating as before until a statewide desegregation policy was established. Like so many other school districts, Prince Edward County fought the Supreme Court decision. Their tactics were unorthodox – rather than desegregate the school system, they simply closed the public schools. A private school, funded with vouchers from the County School Board, was founded which accepted only the white children of the county. The Davis case was resurrected first as Eva Allen v. the County School Board and later as Cocheyse J. Griffin v. the County School Board in order to force Prince Edward County to reopen the public schools and follow the original mandate of the Supreme Court. Finally, in 1964 the Supreme Court ruled that the county was required to provide public education to all children. Appeals of this case were filed in RG 276, Records of the U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit Case Files # 7829, 8837, 9597 and 10,191.
Call number Civil Action Case # 1333
Date from 1951
Date to 1964
Geographic school Prince Edward County, VA
Size unknown
Access restrictions yes/no 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    High school students

o    Public schools

o    School closings

o    School integration–Massive resistance movement

o    Segregation in education

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

o    District courts–Virginia

o    United States. Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)

o    Prince Edward County (Va.). County School Board–Trials, litigation, etc.
Types Legal documents