Posted on

Virginia Council on Human Relations. Charlottesville-Albemarle Chapter

Virginia Council on Human Relations. Charlottesville-Albemarle Chapter

Creator Virginia Council on Human Relations. Charlottesville-Albemarle Chapter
Description Correspondence, minutes, speeches, bylaws, financial records, membership lists, surveys, newsletters, and clippings, relating chiefly to desegregation of public schools, fair housing, and equal employment opportunity, and also to Homeward Bound for returning Vietnam veterans, voter registration, school curricula reform, and prison reform. Includes correspondence, minutes, bylaws, financial statements, press releases, and publications of the State board of directors and executive committee; and material from Virginia Equal Employment Opportunity Committee, Southern Regional Council, Citizens for Superior Albemarle Schools, PTA, NAACP, Anti-Defamation League, and President’s Committee on Equal Employment. Correspondents include Harry F. Byrd, Sr., Lyndon B. Johnson, Thurgood Marshall, A. Willis Robertson, and Howard W. Smith.
Call number MS 81-386
Date from 1955
Date to 1970
Geographic school Charlottesville, Albemarle County
Size 3200 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    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    Virginia Equal Employment Opportunity Committee

o    Marshall, Thurgood, 1908-1993

o    Parents’ and teachers’ associations

o    National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

o    B’nai B’rith. Anti-defamation League

o    Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973
Types o    Clippings

o    Correspondence

o    Legal documents
Posted on

USDC, Western District of Virginia, Charlottesville, Civil Action Case #30: Gregory Hayes Swanson v. The Rector and the Visitors of the University of Virginia 

USDC, Western District of Virginia, Charlottesville, Civil Action Case #30: Gregory Hayes Swanson v. The Rector and the Visitors of the University of Virginia 

Creator USDC, Western District of Virginia, Charlottesville
Description In the summer of 1950, an African American lawyer named Gregory Swanson applied to take additional graduate courses at the University of Virginia’s Law School. Swanson had graduated from the Howard Law School and was seeking to take graduate courses at the University of Virginia. However, when Swanson applied to the school, his application was denied because of his race. At the time, Virginia’s higher education segregation laws did not permit African Americans from entering a white school. As a result, Swanson “with the help of Thurgood Marshall and Charles Houston” took the case to the Western District Court of Virginia. During the Court’s proceedings, Swanson pointed out that he would have been accepted to the school had he been a white with the same qualifications. During the trial, Swanson told the court that he was merely trying to exercise his legal right to freedom of discrimination. While the segregation laws of Virginia were designed to prevent blacks from entering schools of higher education, the laws clearly had a bigger enemy than Swanson: the United States Constitution. The 14th Amendment states that, “No state can make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” Furthermore, Swanson’s legal team brought to light two other desegregation cases in their arguments. Pearson v. Murray stated that the state cannot undertake the function of education in law, and that no person may be omitted from education because of skin color. The case also stated that students must be offered equal treatment and be admitted to the school provided. The second case, “Sweatt v. Painter”, took place in Texas. The court’s ruling backed Swanson’s argument by saying that “We hold that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that the petitioner be admitted to the University of Texas Law School.” In reaching the final decision, the three US Circuit judges agreed that Swanson was denied entry in to the University of Virginia Law School solely because he was a member of the “Negro Race”. The judges went on to say that Swanson possessed all of the scholastic and moral qualifications necessary for him to be accepted into the Law School. By use of the 14th Amendment, Swanson and his legal team were able to break down the race barriers that were designed to keep African-Americans out of Virginia higher educational facilities. This landmark decision by the Western District of Virginia successfully concluded that no person could be held back from a higher education exclusively because of their race or skin color.
Call number Civil Action Case #30
Date from 1950
Date to 1960
Geographic school Charlottesville, 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    Public schools

o    Segregation in higher education

o    District courts–Virginia

o    Marshall, Thurgood, 1908-1993

o    Houston, Charles Hamilton, 1895-1950

o    University of Virginia. School of Law

o    University of Texas. School of Law

o    Howard University. School of Law
Types Legal documents
Posted on

USDC, Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division, Civil Action Case #50: Walter B. Alston, et al. vs. School Board of the City of Norfolk, et al. 

USDC, Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division, Civil Action Case #50: Walter B. Alston, et al. vs. School Board of the City of Norfolk, et al. 

Creator USDC, Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division
Description In October of 1938, attorney Thurgood Marshall filed a petition for Norfolk teacher Arline Black. Black was seeking salary equalization from the School Board of the City of Norfolk and was consequently fired. After Black moved to New York, Marshall filed the suit on behalf of Melvin Alston, president of the Norfolk Teachers Association. Though they lost the first case, a federal appeals court ordered that African-American teachers should be paid salaries equal to those of white teachers. The plaintiffs in the case stated that their constitutional right of “equal protection” – guaranteed under the 14th Amendment – was being violated due to the school board discriminating on the grounds of race and color. The 1940 case found that white and African-American public school teachers with comparable qualifications needed to be paid equally. This case was one of the first cases to assert equal educational rights for African-Americans.
Call number Civil Action Case #50
Date from 1938
Date to 1940
Geographic school Norfolk, 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 Americans–Civil rights

o    Public schools

o    Race relations

o    African Americans–Education

o    African American educators

o    Marshall, Thurgood, 1908-1993

o    Teachers–Salaries, etc.–United States
Types Legal documents
Posted on

USDC, Eastern District of Virginia -Newport News Division, Civil Action Case # 489-Jerome Atkins, et al vs. School Board of the City of Newport News, VA, et al 

USDC, Eastern District of Virginia -Newport News Division, Civil Action Case # 489-Jerome Atkins, et al vs. School Board of the City of Newport News, VA, et al 

Creator USDC, Eastern District of Virginia -Newport News Division
Description In April 1956, the parents of Jerome Atkins and 53 other children filed suit in the U.S. District Court that the school board of Newport News, VA, was denying the plaintiffs their civil rights under the 14th Amendment by continuing to enforce racial segregation in the city schools. The plaintiffs petitioned the Court to restrain the school board from barring admission to any student on the grounds of race. The lead attorney for the plaintiffs was future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Trial proceedings were held in November 1956 and in February 1957, the District Court ruled that racial segregation in the Newport News school system must end and that the schools must be opened on an integrated basis by the start of the 1957-1958 school year. The defendants appealed the ruling to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. In July 1957, the Circuit Court upheld the District Court’s decision ending racial segregation in the Newport News school system.
Call number Civil Action Case # 489
Date from 1956
Date to 1958
Geographic school Newport News, 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    Public schools

o    School children

o    Segregation in education

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

o    Marshall, Thurgood, 1908-1993

o    District courts–Virginia

o    Public schools–Virginia–Newport News

o    United States. Circuit Courts
Types Legal documents