Desegregation of Public Schools in Virginia

In 1896, the Supreme Court concluded that a Louisiana law requiring blacks and whites to ride separate railroad cars did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. "It was not until 1927 that the Court specifically extended the Plessy doctrine to public education" (La Morte, 2012). "Separate but equal" stayed standard teaching in U.S. law until the 1954 Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education.

La Morte, M. W. (2012). School law: Cases and concepts (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Prior to this case, African-American minors had been denied admittance to certain public schools based on laws allowing public education to be segregated by race. It was argued that segregation violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Previous plaintiffs were denied relief based on "separate but equal" doctrine. However, in this case the Supreme Court held that "separate but equal" facilities are inherently unequal and violate the protections of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1). (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved March 24, 2018, from https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/347us483

After Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, many southern states requested exemption. The Supreme Court did not set a specific date that schools had to be integrated by so some schools moved slowly to integrate. During the Brown II case in 1955, the Supreme Court ruled that integration take place "with all deliberate speed."

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (2). (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved March 24, 2018, from https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/349us294

Nine students registered to be the first African American students to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. "On September 2, 1957, Governor Orval Faubus announced that he would call in the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the African-American students’ entry to Central High, claiming this action was for the students’ own protection" (History.com Staff, 2010). Later, President Dwight Eisenhower sent federal troops to escort the students into the school. The group has been widely recognized for their significant role in the civil rights movement.

History.com.Staff. (2010). Little Rock Nine. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/central-high-school-integration

In January 1959, Virginia's school closing law was ruled unconstitutional. Schools that had been closed reopened because citizens preferred integrated schools to no school at all. Prince Edward County Schools did not reopen. On May 1, 1959, the schools were ordered to integrate its schools, instead Prince Edward County closed its entire public school system.

The Closing of Prince Edward County’s Schools. Virginia museum of history & culture. Retrieved from https://www.virginiahistory.org/collections-and-resources/virginia-history-explorer/civil-rights-movement-virginia/closing-prince

In February, 1963 John F. Kennedy urged Prince Edward County to open their schools to integration. "Kennedy's administration joined state and private organizers in the Prince Edward County Free School Association, which rented three of the closed public schools for African American students to attend during the 1963–1964 school year" (Robert Kennedy", n.d.). The Supreme Court held that closing the public schools denied African Americans their education that was available to their white peers. Since the schools were closed to deny the purpose of education based on race, this action was a  violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Robert Kennedy Visit at Prince Edward County Schools, May 11, 1964. (n.d.). Document Bank of Virginia. Retrieved from http://edu.lva.virginia.gov/dbva/items/show/204

Green v. County School Board of New Kent County is recognized as one of the most significant public school cases decided by the Supreme Court after Brown v. Board of Education. Under "freedom of choice" black students only attended New Kent County's George W. Watkins School. "With the Green case, the Supreme Court of the United States established the duty of school boards to affirmatively eliminate all vestiges of state-imposed segregation and further placed an affirmative duty on school boards to integrate schools"("Green v. County", n.d.).

Green v. County School Board of New Kent Celebration. (n.d.) Retrieved from https://greenvnewkent.com/history/

After the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, governors all over Virginia tried to avoid complying with the Court's decision. Linwood Holton was elected in 1969, and he was the first Republican elected in Virginia since Reconstruction. "On Aug. 31, 1970, Holton escorted his oldest daughter - 13-year-old Taylor - into John F. Kennedy High School" (Fiske, 2016). Although the courts get the credit, may politicians credit Holton for integrating schools. Holton embraced integration and obeyed court orders (Fiske, 2016).

Fiske, W., 2016. Tim Kaine over credits his father-in-law, Linwood Holton, for Va. School desegregation. Politifact Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.politifact.com/virginia/statements/2016/aug/15/tim-kaine/tim-kaine-over-credits-his-father-law-linwood-holt/