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John Hannah Daniel papers (1896-1972)

John Hannah Daniel papers (1896-1972)

Creator Daniel, John Hannah (1896-1972)
Description State legislator and clothier, of Charlotte County, Va. Correspondence, petitions, loyalty pledges, and other papers, documenting Daniel’s service on House of Delegates Appropriations Committee, and relating to Charlotte County politics and local elections, school desegregation fight in Prince Edward County, Va., Prince Edward School Foundation, which was formed to build a private segregated academy, and Daniel’s membership on the board of College of William and Mary Board of Visitors; correspondence, memos, orders, and financial statements and accounts and family correspondence.
Call number MS 81-354
Date from 1921
Date to 1971
Geographic school Prince Edward County, VA
Size ca. 22 ft. (ca. 22,800 items)
Access restrictions yes/no
Access restrictions
Part Of larger collection yes/no
Larger collection title
URL
Repository University of Virginia Library, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
Repository address P.O. Box 400110, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4110
Repository contact name Nicole Bouch
Repository contact title Director, Special Collections
Repository contact email nlb3d@virginia.edu
Repository contact phone (434) 243-1776
DoveRegion region7
Subjects o    African American students

o    African Americans–Civil rights

o    Private schools

o    Public schools

o    Race relations

o    School children

o    School closings

o    School integration–Massive resistance movement

o    Segregation in education

o    Virginia. General Assembly

o    Public schools–Virginia–Prince Edward County

o    Prince Edward School Foundation

o    College of William and Mary
Types o    Correspondence

o    Legal documents
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The Defense of an Unconscionable Experimentation with Ignorance : The Legal Battle over Public Education in Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1959-1964 

The Defense of an Unconscionable Experimentation with Ignorance : The Legal Battle over Public Education in Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1959-1964 

Creator Lagerquist, Jonathan
Description Master’s thesis. From 1954 to 1964 the public schools in Prince Edward County, Virginia, remained closed. The schools had been closed to avoid complying with federal court orders requiring that the county desegregate its public schools. Segregation of public schools had been found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in its 1954 landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education. The Prince Edward public schools were closed for five years until the Supreme Court in 1964 found that the school closures were unconstitutional in Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County. This Master s Thesis explores the legal battle that arose out the Prince Edward school closures. The purpose is to determine how the county was able to defend the closures during the lengthy litigation. The source material consists of briefs filed before the courts, where the involved parties present their arguments. These documents are found in the collection the Papers of Allan G. Donn, housed at the Special Collections and University Archives, Patricia W. and J. Douglas Perry Library, at Old Dominion University Libraries, Norfolk, Virginia. In addition, the several court rulings handed down during the litigation are examined. By analyzing this source material qualitatively, the litigation is reconstructed and analyzed. The Prince Edward school closures have received relatively little scholarly attention. The research that has been done on the Prince Edward school closures focuses on how proponents and opponents to the closures acted politically, in the public discourse, and on a grassroots level. This thesis will therefore explore an aspect of the closures that has heretofore been largely overlooked. In addition to casting light on a previously overlooked part of the Prince Edward school closures, this thesis also provides a new interpretation of the county s defense of the closures. Previous research has attributed the effectiveness of the county s strategy to keep the schools closed due to the lack of a constitutional requirement in regards to public education. While segregation in public schools had been found unconstitutional, public education nevertheless remained within the states purview. This study supports this claim, however it elaborates on how the involved parties and courts tasked with ruling on the closures perceived the role of public education within the American system of federalism. This thesis finds that the school closures represented a conflict between a conservative and a progressive view of the Constitution. According to the governing case law at the time, it was permissible under the Constitution for a county to abandon all public education. In order to reopen the schools, the courts had to employ new and innovative interpretations of the law of the land. This thesis also shows that the county s defense of the closures was more dynamic than has previously been believed. The closures were not only defended by relying on traditional interpretations of the Constitution, but also utilized a procedural defense that was aimed at prolonging the closures. This strategy played an important role in keeping the county s public schools closed for such an extended time period. This aspect of the litigation and its effect on extending the time period the county was able to operate no public schools has not been previously noted. This survey of the legal defense of the Prince Edward school closures shows that the defense was more versatile than has previously been believed. The American system of federalism and the duel court system with state and federal courts were exploited in several ways to keep the county s public schools closed. In order to reopen the schools, new, and to some extent radical, interpretations of the Constitution had to be employed.
Call number –
Date from 2014
Date to 2014
Geographic school Prince Edward County, VA
Size 1 thesis
Access restrictions yes/no n
Access restrictions –
Part Of larger collection yes/no n
Larger collection title
URL Lagerquist, Jonathan
Repository University of Helsinki
Repository address Helsinki Finland
Repository contact name –
Repository contact title –
Repository contact email –
Repository contact phone –
DoveRegion (outside of Virginia)
Subjects o    African American students

o    African Americans–Civil rights

o    African Americans–Segregation

o    Public schools

o    Race relations

o    School children

o    School closings

o    School integration

o    School integration–Massive resistance movement

o    Segregation in education

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

o    Public schools–Virginia–Richmond

o    Public schools–Virginia–Prince Edward County
Types Manuscript
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WSB-TV newsfilm clip of reporter Ray Moore interviewing United States attorney general Robert F. Kennedy about the Freedom Rides and about school integration, Washington, D.C., 1961

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of reporter Ray Moore interviewing United States attorney general Robert F. Kennedy about the Freedom Rides and about school integration, Washington, D.C., 1961

Creator WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)
Description Reporter: Moore, Ray, 1922-. In this WSB newsfilm clip from the summer of 1961 in Washington, D.C., WSB reporter Ray Moore interviews United States attorney general Robert F. Kennedy about the Freedom Rides and school integration. The clip begins with United States attorney general Robert F. Kennedy sitting in a room with an American flag behind him. WSB reporter Ray Moore appears to be listening to something; in front of him are several pages with portions of text blacked out. The clip breaks a few times before the audio portion of the interview beings. Moore’s first question to Kennedy about riots in Montgomery, Alabama, is incompletely recorded. In response to the question, Kennedy declares the unspecified charges are “simply untrue.” Asked about his relationship with the Freedom Ride sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), Kennedy claims that he first heard about the Freedom Ride on Monday, May 15, 1961, the day after the attack and bus burning in Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama. He asserts that he had not had any prior conversations about the rides with “CORE or anybody else.” According to accounts of the civil rights workers involved in the Freedom Rides, the CORE office sent informational letters about the Freedom Rides two weeks before the May 4 departure from Washington, D.C. They reported sending letters to president John F. Kennedy; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover, attorney general Robert F. Kennedy; the chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and the presidents of Trailways and Greyhound bus companies. CORE received no responses. Simeon Booker, a reporter who traveled with the riders from Washington D.C. also met with Robert Kennedy and his assistant John Seigenthaler the day before the ride began but felt after the visit that the attorney general had not been paying full attention. Kennedy then volunteers to tell Moore about his experience with the Freedom Rides. He opens with the events following the May 14 bus burning in Anniston and the beatings in Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama. According to Kennedy, the Freedom Riders were in Birmingham on Monday, May 15 and were trying to continue their journey to New Orleans. Kennedy reports he spoke with Alabama director of public safety, Floyd Mann, after having been unsuccessful in his attempts to contact Alabama governor John Patterson. Mann was able to get governor Patterson to agree to provide some protection to the Freedom Riders. However, after Kennedy relayed that information to the Freedom Riders and they got on the bus in Birmingham, Mann called Kennedy and told him that the bus driver wouldn’t drive the bus. Kennedy confirms that after hearing from Mann, he called the manager of the Greyhound station in Birmingham, George Cruit, and expressed his desire the Freedom Riders make their trip. Cruit recorded that conversation, and it later received significant attention in Alabama. At this point, Moore interrupts Kennedy to repeat the statements made by George Cruit. At an unspecified hearing about the Freedom Rides, Cruit testified that Kennedy said he had gone to a lot of trouble for the Freedom Riders and would be upset if the riders did not complete their trip to Montgomery. Kennedy admits that he and his staff at the Justice Department had put a lot of effort into getting the Freedom Riders safely from Birmingham to Montgomery. He refutes allegations that his attention to the Freedom Rider’s safety proves that he supported their protest and that they were sent by the Federal government. Kennedy asserts that those allegations are untrue and explains again that he was concerned with the safety of the travelers. Asked about governor Patterson’s assurance that the riders would be safe, Kennedy clarifies that he did not personally speak with governor Patterson. Through Kennedy’s conversations with Mann the governor assured Kennedy that the riders would be protected “and that they wouldn’t have difficulty or
Call number
Date from 1961
Date to 1961
Geographic school Prince Edward County, VA
Size 1 clip (about 22 min.)
Access restrictions yes/no
Access restrictions
Part Of larger collection yes/no
Larger collection title
URL
Repository The Civil Rights Digital Library
Repository address University of Georgia Libraries, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-1641
Repository contact name Dr. P. Toby Graham
Repository contact title Director, Digital Library of Georgia
Repository contact email tgraham@uga.edu
Repository contact phone (706) 583-0213
DoveRegion (outside of Virginia)
Subjects o    African American students

o    African Americans–Civil rights

o    African Americans–Segregation

o    Public schools

o    Race relations

o    School children

o    School closings

o    School integration

o    School integration–Massive resistance movement

o    Segregation in education

o    Kennedy, Robert F., 1925-1968

o    Moore, Ray, 1922-

o    Mann, Floyd H., 1920-1996

o    Patterson, John, 1921 September 27-

o    Cruit, George

o    Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963

o    Seigenthaler, John, 1927-

o    Cook, Eugene, 1904-

o    Reporters and reporting

o    Freedom Rides, 1961
Types Broadcast-Television-News
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WSB-TV newsfilm clip of governor J. Lindsay Almond at a press conference declaring that schools will close if federal troops are sent to enforce desegregation, Richmond, Virginia, 1958 August 21

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of governor J. Lindsay Almond at a press conference declaring that schools will close if federal troops are sent to enforce desegregation, Richmond, Virginia, 1958 August 21

Creator WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)
Description In this WSB newsfilm clip from August 21, 1958, Virginia governor J. Lindsay Almond speaks to reporters at a press conference held in Richmond, Virginia and declares that schools will close if federal troops are sent to enforce desegregation. As the clip begins, Almond is sitting at one end of a table with reporters taking notes at the other end of the table. Almond asserts “there will be no enforced integration in Virginia.” While expressing his respect for president Dwight Eisenhower, he declares without “defiance” that if federal troops are sent to Virginia to enforce court-ordered desegregation, he will close the schools. Governor Almond held a press conference on August 21 in response to comments made by president Eisenhower the day before. According to newspaper reports, Eisenhower declared it was “the solemn duty of all Americans to comply with the Supreme Court’s order to end racial discrimination in public schools.” In other comments made during the press conference and not recorded in this newsfilm clip, Almond defends education as “a state matter” and maintains that desegregation “would destroy the process of education.” During his comments, he asked for support of a state policy against racial integration in public schools. School integration lawsuits in Virginia began in 1951 in Prince Edward County. That case was eventually incorporated into the United States Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education. Almond, who was Virginia attorney general at the time, was one of the lawyers who argued in favor of segregated education. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled against segregation in public education. State officials in Virginia organized a plan of “massive resistance” to court-ordered desegregation, passing laws requiring integrated schools to close and providing tuition grants to white students displaced by school desegregation. In the fall of 1958, nine white public schools closed in Norfolk, Charlottesville, and Warren County, Virginia. On January 20, 1959, both state and federal courts overturned the state law requiring integrated schools to close. After the ruling, Almond called a special legislative session during which he announced the end of the “massive resistance” campaign. The following Monday, February 2, 1959, seven schools in Arlington and Norfolk integrated. Title supplied by cataloger. The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for digital conversion and description of the WSB-TV Newsfilm Collection.
Call number
Date from 1958 August 21
Date to 1958 August 21
Geographic school Virginia
Size 1 clip (about 1 min.)
Access restrictions yes/no
Access restrictions
Part Of larger collection yes/no
Larger collection title
URL
Repository The Civil Rights Digital Library
Repository address University of Georgia Libraries, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-1641
Repository contact name Dr. P. Toby Graham
Repository contact title Director, Digital Library of Georgia
Repository contact email tgraham@uga.edu
Repository contact phone (706) 583-0213
DoveRegion (outside of Virginia)
Subjects o    African American students

o    African Americans–Civil rights

o    African Americans–Segregation

o    Almond, J. Lindsay (James Lindsay), 1898-1986

o    Public schools

o    Race relations

o    School children

o    School closings

o    School integration

o    School integration–Massive resistance movement

o    Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969

o    Public schools–Virginia–Prince Edward County

o    Public schools–Virginia–Norfolk

o    Public schools–Virginia–Charlottesville

o    Public schools–Virginia–Warren County
Types Broadcast-Television-News
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Michael Wenger Collection 

Michael Wenger Collection 

Creator Michael Wenger
Description The Michael Wenger Collection documents the Student Help Project and other activist activities on the Queens College campus in the 1960s. The Student Help Project was initiated by Queens College Students, including Michael Wenger, and Queens College Education Department professors, Dr. Rachel Weddington and Dr. Sidney Simon. This project brought tutoring services to underserved children in South Jamaica, Queens and Prince Edward County, Virginia. The collection contains correspondence, newspaper and magazine articles, reports, press releases and other miscellanea documenting the Jamaica-Virginia Student Help Project, and Queens College student activism in the 1960s.
Call number
Date from 1963
Date to 1965
Geographic school Prince Edward County, VA
Size 2 linear feet
Access restrictions yes/no no
Access restrictions
Part Of larger collection yes/no
Larger collection title
URL
Repository Queens College (CUNY) Department of Special Collections and Archives
Repository address CUNY Benjamin Rosenthal Library RO317, 65-30 Kissena Boulevard, Queens, NY 11367-1597
Repository contact name Dr. Benjamin Alexander
Repository contact title
Repository contact email QC.Archives@qc.cuny.edu
Repository contact phone (718) 997-3650
DoveRegion (outside of Virginia)
Subjects o    African American students

o    School children

o    School closings

o    School integration–Massive resistance movement

o    Tutors and tutoring

o    Student Help Project

o    Queens College (New York, N.Y.)

o    Wenger, Michael, 1942-
Types o    Clippings

o    Correspondence

o    Legal documents
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Stan Shaw Collection 

Stan Shaw Collection 

Creator Stan Shaw
Description Stan Shaw was Chairman of the Student Help Project at Queens College from January 1963 through January 1964. The Student Help Project organized Queens College students to provide free tutoring services to schoolchildren in South Jamaica, Queens (circa 1962-1968) and in Prince Edward County, Virginia (summer of 1963). In South Jamaica the volunteers assisted children who were below grade level. In Prince Edward County they tutored African American children who had been denied formal schooling since 1959, when the County shut down their public schools rather than enforce court ordered desegregation. Queens College Education professors Dr. Rachel Weddington and Dr. Sidney Simon coordinated these initiatives with Shaw and other students. As a result of this collaboration, by the fall of 1963 over 220 students had participated in the South Jamaica project and 16 students had spent 6 weeks tutoring in Prince Edward County. The collection contains newspaper and magazine articles, reports, photographs, press releases, and a diary documenting the Student Help Project in New York and Virginia.
Call number
Date from 1963
Date to 1976
Geographic school Prince Edward County, VA
Size 1 linear foot
Access restrictions yes/no no
Access restrictions
Part Of larger collection yes/no
Larger collection title
URL
Repository Queens College (CUNY) Department of Special Collections and Archives
Repository address CUNY Benjamin Rosenthal Library RO317, 65-30 Kissena Boulevard, Queens, NY 11367-1597
Repository contact name Dr. Benjamin Alexander
Repository contact title
Repository contact email QC.Archives@qc.cuny.edu
Repository contact phone (718) 997-3650
DoveRegion (outside of Virginia)
Subjects o    African American students

o    School children

o    School closings

o    School integration–Massive resistance movement

o    Tutors and tutoring

o    Student Help Project

o    Shaw, Stan, 1943-

o    Queens College (New York, N.Y.)
Types o    Clippings

o    Diaries

o    Photographs

o    Press releases

o    Reports
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The Papers of Allan G. Donn 

The Papers of Allan G. Donn 

Creator Donn, Allan G.
Description Allan Gerald Donn was born in 1939 in Norfolk to Milton Donn and Freda Fleder. He graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Arts. In 1964, he received a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from Harvard University Law School and became engaged to Susan L. Berman who he later married. A year later Donn was admitted to the Virginia State Bar. In 1967, he received a Master of Laws (LLM) in Taxation from Georgetown Law Center. As of 2010, Donn is a member of Willcox and Savage, specializing in partnerships, limited liability companies, taxation and estate planning. While a student at Harvard, Donn was present when the United States Supreme Court heard the school desegregation case, Cocheyse J. Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County. Allan G. Donn  In this pivotal case, the court ruled that closing public schools to avoid desegregation was unconstitutional and ordered that they be reopened. Later, as a member of Norfolk legal firm of Willcox, Savage, Lawrence, Dickson & Spindle, Donn represented the School Board of City of Norfolk in desegregation cases in the late 1960s and 1970s. The collection contains court documents and a research paper related to school desegregation in Prince Edward County, Norfolk and Richmond, Virginia and North Carolina. The first four folders relate to Prince Edward County, Virginia. The last folder contains court documents for a case filed in North Carolina – Swan v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg. It includes an amicus curiae brief filed by the Virginia Attorney General that discusses school desegregation in Norfolk and Richmond Virginia.
Call number MG 106
Date from 1961
Date to 1970
Geographic school Prince Edward County, VA; Norfolk, VA; Richmond, VA; Charlotte, NC
Size One Hollinger document case
Access restrictions yes/no no
Access restrictions
Part Of larger collection yes/no no
Larger collection title
URL http://www.lib.odu.edu/specialcollections/manuscripts/donn.htm
Repository Old Dominion University, Special Collections and University Archives
Repository address Patricia W. & J. Douglas Perry Library, Norfolk, VA 23529-0256
Repository contact name
Repository contact title Special Collections Librarian and University Archivist
Repository contact email libspecialcollections@odu.edu
Repository contact phone (757) 683-4483
DoveRegion region3
Subjects o    African American students

o    African Americans–Civil rights

o    African Americans–Segregation

o    Public schools

o    Race relations

o    School children

o    School closings

o    School integration

o    School integration–Massive resistance movement

o    Segregation in education

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

o    Public schools–Virginia–Richmond

o    Public schools–Virginia–Prince Edward County

o    Public schools–North Carolina–Charlotte
Types Legal documents
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DOVE Digital Collection 

DOVE Digital Collection 

Creator Desegregation of Virginia Education (DOVE) Project
Description The DOVE Collection contains materials dated mainly from the early 1950s through the 1960s and 70s. Specific regions represented in the collection are the City of Norfolk, Prince Edward County, Southside Virginia, Charlottesville and the Eastern Shore of Virginia. During a series of tours conducted throughout the state in 2012 and 2013 entitled ‘School Desegregation: Learn, Preserve and Empower,’ nearly 100 oral histories were conducted to allow citizens to talk about their experiences with school desegregation. Photographs, documents, newspaper clippings and other items were also collected at this time and at other times during the DOVE project. Additional material will be added in the future.
Call number MG 104
Date from 1950
Date to 2013
Geographic school Virginia
Size about 200 digital objects – oral histories, transcripts, videos, documents
Access restrictions yes/no no
Access restrictions
Part Of larger collection yes/no
Larger collection title
URL http://dc.lib.odu.edu/cdm/about/collection/dove
Repository Old Dominion University, Special Collections and University Archives
Repository address Patricia W. & J. Douglas Perry Library, Norfolk, VA 23529-0256
Repository contact name
Repository contact title Special Collections Librarian and University Archivist
Repository contact email libspecialcollections@odu.edu
Repository contact phone (757) 683-4483
DoveRegion region3
Subjects o    African American students

o    African Americans–Civil rights

o    High school students

o    Middle school students

o    Public schools

o    Race relations

o    School children

o    Segregation in education
Types Oral histories
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Delta Sigma Lambda Sorority 

Delta Sigma Lambda Sorority 

Creator Edith Carmichael
Description In Scrapbook 1: 1960-1965, clippings and photographs documenting the Sorority’s donation of a car for Willie May Watson, who worked with African American children in the Prince Edward County schools during the school closing crisis. Also pictured is Dr. Ruth Harrell, chair of the Old Dominion College psychology department and faculty advisor to the sorority, who was the school psychologist for Prince Edward county schools.
Call number RG 37-4A1
Date from 1964
Date to 1998
Geographic school Prince Edward County, VA
Size 2 pages
Access restrictions yes/no no
Access restrictions
Part Of larger collection yes/no
Larger collection title
URL http://www.lib.odu.edu/specialcollections/manuscripts/dsl.htm
Repository Old Dominion University, Special Collections and University Archives
Repository address Patricia W. & J. Douglas Perry Library, Norfolk, VA 23529-0256
Repository contact name
Repository contact title Special Collections Librarian and University Archivist
Repository contact email libspecialcollections@odu.edu
Repository contact phone (757) 683-4483
DoveRegion region3
Subjects o    African American students

o    African Americans–Civil rights

o    Public schools

o    School children

o    School closings

o    School integration–Massive resistance movement

o    Segregation in education

o    Delta Sigma Lambda Sorority

o    Old Dominion University
Types o    Clippings

o    Photographs
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Prince Edward Schools Experiment in Education 

Prince Edward Schools Experiment in Education 

Creator Jet Magazine
Description This brief article from the October 3, 1963 issue of Jet Magazine, explains about the newly reopened Prince Edward County’s free public schools “experiment in education.” The article states that: The school system will have an estimated 1,700 negro pupils and four whites, will have two elementary schools, an intermediate and a high school, but no grades. ‘Children will be grouped according to age, size, and mental ability’…’and will be given the opportunity to progress at their own speed.’
Call number
Date from 1963
Date to 1963
Geographic school Prince Edward County, VA
Size 1 article
Access restrictions yes/no no
Access restrictions
Part Of larger collection yes/no no
Larger collection title
URL http://www.worldcat.org/title/jet/oclc/34163826&referer=brief_results
Repository OCLC World Cat
Repository address http://www.worldcat.org/
Repository contact name
Repository contact title
Repository contact email
Repository contact phone
DoveRegion other
Subjects o    African American students

o    African Americans–Civil rights

o    African American–Segregation

o    High school students

o    Middle school students

o    Public schools

o    Race relations

o    School children

o    School closings

o    School integration

o    School integration–Massive resistance movement

o    Public schools–Virginia–Prince Edward County

o    African Americans–Education–Virginia–Prince Edward County
Types o    Press releases

o    Reports