USDC, Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, Civil Action Case #3431- Sheila Jane McLeod, et al vs. the County School Board of Chesterfield County, Virginia, et al 

USDC, Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, Civil Action Case #3431- Sheila Jane McLeod, et al vs. the County School Board of Chesterfield County, Virginia, et al 

Creator USDC, Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division
Description In early 1962, fifteen African-American students filed a class action suit seeking to require their transfer from Negro public schools to white public schools. The plaintiffs alleged that race was the sole factor requiring their attendance at a black school and white students to attend a white school, conversely. On or about December 20, 1961, the Superintendent of Schools notified the infant plaintiff’s parents that their respective children would be transferred to the Dupuy Road School, effective January 2, 1962, not the Ettrick Elementary School as requested. No hearing or forum to redress grievances was made availed to them. The Pupil Placement Board denied the charges against them after the School Board sought to shift responsibility onto it, alleging that overcrowding coupled with a mid-year transfer to a newly constructed facility was to blame; the transfer was said to have been made without prejudice. The Court found that Chesterfield County was an area experiencing “rapid population growth,” possessing ten Negro schools and twenty white ones; “negro students are not admitted to white schools on the same basis as white students attending these schools” [the County is] operating a system of dual attendance areas. The Court concluded that racial discrimination in the admission of students to schools is prohibited. However, as the transfer of the plaintiffs occurred to assist District in populating a newly opened school so that it could be adequately utilized, their request for an injunction was denied. Given the circumstances, latitude was seen fit; there was an absence of proof that the transfer was done to “accomplish discrimination.”
Call number Civil Action Case #3431
Date from 1962
Date to 1977
Geographic school Chesterfield County, 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

Types o    Correspondence

o    Legal documents