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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
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2014 SESSION
14104027DPatrons-- Lucas, Alexander, Barker, Black, Carrico, Cosgrove, Deeds, Edwards, Garrett, Hanger, Locke, Marsh, Martin, McDougle, McEachin, McWaters, Miller, Newman, Norment, Obenshain, Puller, Reeves, Ruff, Saslaw, Smith, Stanley, Stosch, Stuart, Vogel, Wagner and Watkins; Delegates: Davis, Futrell, Hester, James, McClellan, McQuinn, Morrissey, Spruill, Torian, Toscano and Ward
WHEREAS, at one point in history, African Americans were denied their constitutional rights, including the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and the right to equal educational opportunities; and
WHEREAS, while lengthy legal battles for racial and
educational equality across the South from the 1930s through the 1940s produced
minimal progress, in 1950, the United States Supreme Court ruling in Sweatt
v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629 (1950), successfully challenged the “separate but
equal” doctrine of racial segregation established by the landmark
decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), which required racial segregation in public facilities
under the doctrine of “
WHEREAS, throughout the Commonwealth, school conditions,
curricula, textbooks, school equipment, bus
transportation, and school buildings for African American students were grossly
inferior to the public education and school facilities afforded white students;
and WHEREAS, dissatisfaction with the abysmal educational
conditions mounted in the African American community across the South and the
Commonwealth, and in Farmville, a student-led protest against the inferior
Robert Russa Moton High School resulted in the case known as Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County,
103 F. Supp. 337 (1952), one of five cases consolidated as Brown v.
Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), which challenged the
doctrine of “separate but equal” as unconstitutional under the equal protection
clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; and WHEREAS, the consolidated cases were brought in Kansas (Brown
v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, 98 F. Supp. 797); South Carolina (Briggs
v. Elliot, 98 F. Supp. 529 and 103 F. Supp. 920); Delaware (Gebhart v.
Belton, 87 A.2d 862 and 91 A.2d 137); Virginia (Davis v. County School
Board of Prince Edward County (Virginia), 103 F. Supp. 337); and the
District of Columbia (Spottswood Thomas Bolling et al. v. C. Melvin Sharpe
et al. (District of Columbia), 349 U.S. 294; however, it was the facts in
the Virginia case upon which the historic decision in Brown v. Board of
Education was based and argued before the United States Supreme Court; and WHEREAS, sixty years ago, on May
17, 1954, the United States 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 v. Board of Education, touted as a
landmark education decision, struck the death blow that ended the era of Jim
Crow and legally sanctioned segregation throughout American society and served
as a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement; and WHEREAS, in an act of defiance to this historic 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, on May 31, 1955, the United States Supreme Court
ruled that the implementation of desegregation must occur “with all deliberate
speed”; however, during the two-year period from
1956 to 1958, Virginia implemented the strategy of “Massive Resistance” to
oppose the desegregation of public schools in Virginia; and WHEREAS, in 1956, the Constitution of Virginia was amended to
authorize the General Assembly and local governing bodies to appropriate funds
to assist students to go to public or to nonsectarian private schools, and the
General Assembly empowered the Governor to close any schools in Virginia that
were likely to be desegregated and “enacted legislation to close any public
schools where white and colored children were enrolled together, to cut off
state funds to such schools, to pay tuition grants to children in nonsectarian
private schools, and to extend state retirement benefits to teachers in newly
created private schools”; and WHEREAS, during this same period, citizens in Arlington County
opted to comply with the Brown decision; however, the Virginia General
Assembly deprived the Arlington County School Board of its elective status when
it announced a plan of phased desegregation; and WHEREAS, on September 4, 1958, the Governor of Virginia
divested the school superintendents of Virginia public schools of the authority
to desegregate their schools and advised them that if they contravened his
order they would be in violation of Virginia law; and WHEREAS, during September 1958, public schools in Front Royal,
Charlottesville, and Norfolk were closed to prevent desegregation, locking out
nearly 13,000 students, and in Prince Edward County, 2,300 African American and
nearly 350 white students 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, and many
others were unable to graduate from high school, attend college, or pursue
other postsecondary education and training opportunities; and WHEREAS, on January 19, 1959, both the Virginia Court of
Appeals and the United States District Court for the
Eastern District of Virginia overturned Virginia’s “Massive Resistance”
laws and permanently enjoined state officials from closing a school to avoid
desegregation; and WHEREAS, in 1959, Virginia instituted “Freedom of Choice” in
lieu of “Massive Resistance,” which the courts struck down,
and Prince Edward County public schools were not reopened until 1964,
when the United States Supreme Court opined 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 the Court 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 won for school
children throughout the nation the right to an education as
this right has been established in state constitutions; and WHEREAS, notwithstanding the formal end of Virginia’s “Massive Resistance” policy,
desegregation cases continued to be heard in federal courts until 1984, and the last case was dismissed in 2001; and WHEREAS, in 2003, the Virginia General Assembly passed House
Joint Resolution 613, which expressed profound regret for the closing of Prince
Edward County public schools, and in 2004, the county school board awarded more
than 400 honorary diplomas to the survivors of “Massive Resistance”; and WHEREAS, several results of Virginia’s two-year statewide
commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Brown decision from
2004 to 2006 include the Civil Rights Memorial in Capitol Square, production of
the film “Turning Point: Brown v. Board of Education,” publication of the brochure Brown v. Board of
Education: Virginia’s Role and Response, and most notably, the Brown v.
Board of Education Scholarship Program and Fund, which provides educational
opportunities to eligible residents of Virginia who were denied a public
education during “Massive Resistance”; and WHEREAS, it is fitting, timely, and appropriate to commemorate
Brown v. Board of Education on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary
of the landmark decision to acknowledge the tremendous progress that the people
of the Commonwealth have accomplished together towards racial equality and
equal educational opportunities for all Virginians; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring,
That the sixtieth anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education hereby be commemorated; and, be it RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit a copy
of this resolution to the Secretary of Education, the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, the Chancellor of the Virginia Community College System, the
Chairman and Executive Director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, the Virginia School Boards Association, the
Virginia Association of School Superintendents, and
the presidents of the Virginia Education Association and the Virginia Parent
Teacher Association, requesting that they disseminate copies of this resolution
to their respective constituents so that they may be apprised of the sense of
the General Assembly of Virginia in this matter.