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2004 SESSION

044272228
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 20
Offered March 9, 2004
Commending the Prince Edward County School Board.
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Patrons-- Baskerville, Abbitt, Alexander, BaCote, Bland, Hogan, Howell, A.T., Jones, D.C., Melvin, Miles, Spruill, Ward and Ware, O.
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WHEREAS, beginning in 1915, victories in the Supreme Court commenced the demise of Jim Crow laws, an era in American history characterized by the imprimatur of state legislatures and the legal sanction of the courts to erect and perpetuate harsh racial oppression and rigid segregation in every aspect of American life, including public education, accommodations, and transportation; and

WHEREAS, throughout the Commonwealth, school conditions, curricula, textbooks, equipment, bus transportation, and school buildings for African-American students were grossly inferior to the public education and school facilities afforded students of the majority race; and

WHEREAS, African-American schools in Virginia, such as the Robert Russa Moton High School in Prince Edward County, were without gymnasiums, cafeterias, lockers, or auditoriums with fixed seating, and in many African-American schools, the number of students exceeded the maximum capacity of school buildings; and

WHEREAS, requests for improved education and school facilities for African-American students in Prince Edward County were ignored, and protesting the inferior public education and school facilities, a bold and determined sophomore at Robert Russa Moton High School led students in a strike to demand a quality public education and better facilities and to seek legal advice from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Education and Legal Defense Fund; and

WHEREAS, this student-led strike resulted in the case known as Davis v. Virginia, one of five cases consolidated as Brown v. Board of Education that challenged the doctrine of "separate but equal" as unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; and

WHEREAS, these cases were brought in Kansas (Brown v. Board of Education), South Carolina (Briggs v. Elliott), Delaware (Belton v. Gebhart), Virginia (Davis v. Prince Edward County Board of Education), and the District of Columbia (Bolling v. Sharpe); however, it was the facts in the Virginia case upon which Brown v. Board of Education was based and argued before the Supreme Court; and

WHEREAS, 50 years ago on May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, that "State-sanctioned segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th amendment and was therefore unconstitutional," overturning the "separate but equal" doctrine adopted in Plessy v. Ferguson; and

WHEREAS, Brown, touted as an historic education decision, struck the death blow that ended the era of Jim Crow and legally sanctioned segregation throughout American society; and

WHEREAS, in an act of defiance to this landmark ruling, Virginia embarked upon the public policy of "Massive Resistance" in which numerous legislative initiatives were enacted to nullify the decision, including the diversion of public education funds to support private segregated academies and foundations, and the closing of public schools in several jurisdictions in the Commonwealth to avoid desegregation; and

WHEREAS, although public schools were closed in several jurisdictions, students in Prince Edward County were without public education for five years from 1959 to 1964; and

WHEREAS, as a result of the school closings, many students were unable to begin or continue their education, others were unable to graduate from high school, attend college, or pursue other postsecondary education and training opportunities; and

WHEREAS, in 1964 the United States Supreme Court found in Griffin v. School Board of Prince Edward County, 377 U.S. 218 (1964), that "closing the Prince Edward County schools while public schools in all the other counties of Virginia were being maintained denied the petitioners and the class of Negro students they represent the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment" and called for "quick and effective relief" to "put an end to the racial discrimination practiced against these petitioners under authority of the Virginia laws"; and

WHEREAS, the plaintiffs in Griffin, at the expense of their own education, won for school children throughout the nation the right to an education when this right had been established in state constitutions; and

WHEREAS, four decades later, recognizing the gravity of the injustice perpetrated upon the students of Prince Edward County, the indelible mark upon their souls caused by such fervent racial discrimination, and the overwhelming social and economic obstacles that they and their families have found difficult to overcome, on June 15, 2003, the Prince Edward County School Board awarded over 400 honorary diplomas to the survivors of “Massive Resistance”; and

WHEREAS, the Prince Edward County School Board is poised to begin healing old wounds from the days of segregation by awarding more honorary diplomas in the summer of 2004 to remaining students of the "lost generation," who were denied an education; and

WHEREAS, given Virginia's and the nation's commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Brown decision, it is fitting, timely, and appropriate to commend the Prince Edward County School Board for its efforts to make amends for "Massive Resistance," during which Virginia became the only state in the nation to close its public schools rather than to desegregate; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That the Prince Edward County School Board be hereby commended; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the Chairman of the Prince Edward County School Board and the division superintendent of the Prince Edward County Public Schools as an expression of the gratitude and admiration of the members of the House of Delegates for awarding honorary diplomas to eligible students as a means to promote racial healing and rectify the injustice of "Massive Resistance.”