Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County
Encyclopedia
Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County (Docket number: Civ. A. No. 1333; Case citation
: 103 F. Supp. 337 (1952)) was one of the five cases combined into Brown v. Board of Education
, the famous case in which the U.S. Supreme Court, in 1954, officially overturned racial segregation
in U.S. public school
s. The Davis case was the only such case to be initiated by a student protest. The case challenged segregation in Prince Edward County, Virginia
.
, founded in 1923, suffered from terrible conditions due to underfunding. The school did not have a gymnasium, cafeteria or teachers' restrooms. Teachers and students did not have desks or blackboards, and due to overcrowding, some students had to take classes in an immobilized, decrepit school bus
parked outside the main school building. The school's requests for additional funds were denied by the all-white school board.
In response, on April 23, 1951, a 16-year-old student named Barbara Rose Johns
covertly organized a student general strike. She forged notes to teachers telling them to bring their students to the auditorium for a special announcement. When the school's students showed up, Johns took the stage and persuaded the school to strike to protest poor school conditions. Over 450 walked out and marched to the homes of members of the school board, who refused to see them. Thus began a two-week protest.
Further details about this story can be found in Taylor Branch's
Parting The Waters, America In The King Years 1954-63, published by Simon and Schuster in 1988. This book mentions that the headmaster was told over the phone that the police were about to arrest two of his students at the bus station. He failed to recognize this call as a ruse, so that he went to town. Only thereafter were notes calling to a special assembly delivered to the classroom. Whether Barbara Johns forged these notes is not mentioned.
This book also gives a different account of the teaching conditions. It states that some classes were held in "three temporary tar-paper shacks" built to house the overflow at the school. It was so cold during the winter that teachers and students had to keep their coats on. No classes held in a school bus are mentioned, although the school's bus is said to be hand-me-down from the white school, and was driven by the history teacher.
Barbara Johns was the niece of Vernon Johns
, the famous, black Baptist preacher and civil rights leader.
, filed suit on behalf of the students against the school district to integrate the schools. The district was represented by T. Justin Moore, Archibald G. Robertson and John W. Riely of the Hunton, Williams, Gay, Powell and Gibson, a large Virginia law firm, with its primary office in Richmond
(now known as Hunton & Williams
). James Lindsay Almond, as Attorney General
, represented the state of Virginia
. The state court ruled against the plaintiffs, who appealed the case to the U.S. District Court.
The students' request was unanimously rejected by a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court. "We have found no hurt or harm to either race," the court found. The case was then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and consolidated with four other cases from other districts around the country into the famous Brown v. Board of Education
case. In it, the US Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public education was, effectively, unconstitutional and illegal.
. Schools remained segregated for several years. By 1959, James Lindsay Almond had become Governor of Virginia, and faced with continuing losses in the courts, he dismantled the system of segregated schools in that state. Nevertheless, the Board of Supervisors for Prince Edward County refused to appropriate any funds for the County School Board at all, effectively closing all public schools rather than integrate them. White students often attended "segregation academies
", which were all-white private schools that were formed. Black students had to go to school elsewhere or forgo their education altogether. Prince Edward County schools remained closed for five years.
In 2008, the case and the protest which led to it were memorialized on the grounds of the Virginia State Capitol
in the Virginia Civil Rights Memorial
.
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
: 103 F. Supp. 337 (1952)) was one of the five cases combined into Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
, the famous case in which the U.S. Supreme Court, in 1954, officially overturned racial segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
in U.S. public school
Public education
State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...
s. The Davis case was the only such case to be initiated by a student protest. The case challenged segregation in Prince Edward County, Virginia
Prince Edward County, Virginia
Prince Edward County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the population was 23,368. Its county seat is Farmville.-Formation and County Seats:...
.
Background
R.R. Moton High School, an all-black high school in Farmville, VirginiaFarmville, Virginia
Farmville is a town in Prince Edward and Cumberland counties in the U.S. state of Virginia. The population was 6,845 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Prince Edward County....
, founded in 1923, suffered from terrible conditions due to underfunding. The school did not have a gymnasium, cafeteria or teachers' restrooms. Teachers and students did not have desks or blackboards, and due to overcrowding, some students had to take classes in an immobilized, decrepit school bus
School bus
A school bus is a type of bus designed and manufactured for student transport: carrying children and teenagers to and from school and school events...
parked outside the main school building. The school's requests for additional funds were denied by the all-white school board.
In response, on April 23, 1951, a 16-year-old student named Barbara Rose Johns
Barbara Rose Johns
Barbara Rose Johns was a young American civil rights hero who in 1951, at the age of 16, campaigned for the integration of Moton High School in Farmville, Prince Edward County, Virginia. After she appealed to the NAACP for legal representation, her suit became part of the historic 1954 United...
covertly organized a student general strike. She forged notes to teachers telling them to bring their students to the auditorium for a special announcement. When the school's students showed up, Johns took the stage and persuaded the school to strike to protest poor school conditions. Over 450 walked out and marched to the homes of members of the school board, who refused to see them. Thus began a two-week protest.
Further details about this story can be found in Taylor Branch's
Taylor Branch
Taylor Branch is an American author and historian best known for his award-winning trilogy of books chronicling the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and some of the history of the American civil rights movement...
Parting The Waters, America In The King Years 1954-63, published by Simon and Schuster in 1988. This book mentions that the headmaster was told over the phone that the police were about to arrest two of his students at the bus station. He failed to recognize this call as a ruse, so that he went to town. Only thereafter were notes calling to a special assembly delivered to the classroom. Whether Barbara Johns forged these notes is not mentioned.
This book also gives a different account of the teaching conditions. It states that some classes were held in "three temporary tar-paper shacks" built to house the overflow at the school. It was so cold during the winter that teachers and students had to keep their coats on. No classes held in a school bus are mentioned, although the school's bus is said to be hand-me-down from the white school, and was driven by the history teacher.
Barbara Johns was the niece of Vernon Johns
Vernon Johns
Vernon Johns was an American minister and civil rights leader who was active in the struggle for civil rights for African Americans from the 1920s....
, the famous, black Baptist preacher and civil rights leader.
The trials
On May 23, 1951, two lawyers from the NAACP, Spottswood Robinson and Oliver HillOliver Hill
Oliver White Hill, Sr. was a civil rights attorney from Richmond, Virginia. His work against racial discrimination helped end the doctrine of "separate but equal." He also helped win landmark legal decisions involving equality in pay for black teachers, access to school buses, voting rights, jury...
, filed suit on behalf of the students against the school district to integrate the schools. The district was represented by T. Justin Moore, Archibald G. Robertson and John W. Riely of the Hunton, Williams, Gay, Powell and Gibson, a large Virginia law firm, with its primary office in Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
(now known as Hunton & Williams
Hunton & Williams
Founded in 1901, Hunton & Williams LLP is a US law firm that employs more than 800 lawyers. It has been called "one of the most well-connected legal and lobbying firms in DC." The firm was founded in Richmond, Virginia and has 18 other offices throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. In...
). James Lindsay Almond, as Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
, represented the state of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. The state court ruled against the plaintiffs, who appealed the case to the U.S. District Court.
The students' request was unanimously rejected by a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court. "We have found no hurt or harm to either race," the court found. The case was then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and consolidated with four other cases from other districts around the country into the famous Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
case. In it, the US Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public education was, effectively, unconstitutional and illegal.
Aftermath
The ruling was extremely unpopular among white Virginians and a considerable number of them attempted to resist integration through every means possible, during a period known as Massive ResistanceMassive resistance
Massive resistance was a policy declared by U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr. on February 24, 1956, to unite other white politicians and leaders in Virginia in a campaign of new state laws and policies to prevent public school desegregation after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision...
. Schools remained segregated for several years. By 1959, James Lindsay Almond had become Governor of Virginia, and faced with continuing losses in the courts, he dismantled the system of segregated schools in that state. Nevertheless, the Board of Supervisors for Prince Edward County refused to appropriate any funds for the County School Board at all, effectively closing all public schools rather than integrate them. White students often attended "segregation academies
Segregation academies
Segregation academies are private schools started in the United States during the 1950s, '60s, and 70s as a way for white parents to avoid the desegregation of public schools as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Brown v...
", which were all-white private schools that were formed. Black students had to go to school elsewhere or forgo their education altogether. Prince Edward County schools remained closed for five years.
In 2008, the case and the protest which led to it were memorialized on the grounds of the Virginia State Capitol
Virginia State Capitol
The Virginia State Capitol is the seat of state government in the Commonwealth of Virginia, located in Richmond, the third capital of Virginia. It houses the oldest legislative body in the United States, the Virginia General Assembly...
in the Virginia Civil Rights Memorial
Virginia Civil Rights Memorial
The Virginia Civil Rights Memorial is a monument in Richmond, Virginia commemorating protests which helped bring about school desegregation in the state. The memorial was opened in July 2008, and is located on the grounds of the Virginia State Capitol...
.
External links
- Student Strike at Moton High ~ Civil Rights Movement Veterans
- Former High School is Museum