USDC, Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, Civil Action Case # 4266: Charles C. Green et al. v. County School Board of New Kent County (VA)
| Creator | USDC, Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division |
| Description | On March 15, 1965, the parents of Charles C. Green and 35 other plaintiffs filed suit in U.S. District Court alleging that the County School Board of New Kent County (VA) had failed to properly desegregate the student population and faculty of the New Kent County school system. The plaintiffs were petitioning the court to order the New Kent County school board to comply with Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court rulings and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 legislation. The case was tried in May 1966 and a plan for the desegregation of the New Kent County school system was submitted by the School Board. The plan called for all families to have the “freedom-of-choice” to send their children to whatever school they desired. The District Court approved this plan in June 1966. The plaintiffs appealed this ruling to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, stating the desegregation plan did not properly achieve true racial integration. The plaintiffs stated that whereas African-American students could choose to attend the formerly all-white New Kent County school, white students were refusing to attend the formerly all African-American George Watkins school thus making the latter school a racially segregated educational facility. The Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the District Court’s approval of the school board’s “Freedom-of-Choice” plan whereupon the plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled in May 1968 that the “Freedom-of-choice” plan failed to meet the standard of school desegregation. The Supreme Court vacated the District Court and Circuit Court’s approval of the “freedom-of-choice” plan and ordered the District Court to order the New Kent County School Board to come up with a new plan. In August 1968 the District Court ordered that the New Kent County school board adopt a plan for integrating its schools and that each school’s student body have a minimum of 25% minority representation. The Green case is important because it set a judicial precedent used by other federal district courts in the 1970s in mandating busing and other desegregation actions in order to achieve a truly non-racial system of public education in America. |
| Call number | Civil Action Case # 4266 |
| Date from | 1965 |
| Date to | 1968 |
| Geographic school | New Kent 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 African Americans–Segregation o Busing for school integration o Public schools o School children o School integration o Segregation in education o o District courts–Virginia o Public schools–Virginia–New Kent County o United States. Circuit Courts o Civil Rights Act of 1964 o Topeka (Kan.). Board of Education–Trials, litigation, etc. |
| Types | Legal documents |