Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Papers of John Segar Gravatt, Accession #11584, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

The papers were given to the University of Virginia Library by Jacqueline Segar Gravatt of Virginia Beach, Virginia, on February 5, 2000.

Biographical/Historical Information

John Segar Gravatt (d. 1983), of Blackstone, Nottoway County, Virginia, was a member of the Seven Society and graduate from the law school of the University of Virginia in 1933. He also served on the Board of Visitors in the late fifties. He was a student on the football team that played in the first game ever held in Scott Stadium. He also represented Dinwiddie, Nottoway, and Petersburg during the Convention of 1956, which met in Richmond from March 5 to March 7, 1956, and was "called to help implement Virginia's resistance to the United States Supreme Court decision of 1954 barring segregation in the public schools."

Scope and Content Information

This collection consists of the papers of Judge John Segar Gravatt (d. 1983), of Blackstone, Nottoway County, Virginia, primarily focusing on his interest in the struggle over the desegregation of Virginia schools, 1959-1962, and his role as counsel for the Board of Supervisors of Prince Edward County, Virginia, when the decision was made to close the schools in that county.

These papers contain news clippings; miscellaneous material concerning desegregation; printed material, much of which was transferred to the Rare Books Division for individual cataloguing; a University of Virginia Board of Visitors docket; a copy of a legal brief, "Griffen v. County School Board of Prince Edward County; some correspondence, many with attached news clippings or other material about the desegregation issue; an article about the Reverend L. Francis Griffin (1917- ) who led the fight for integration of the public schools in Prince Edward County, Virginia; topical files about Civil Rights bills, the Constitutional Convention of Virginia in 1956, Defenders Policy Committee, and Desegregation; reports; a rough draft of a Prince Edward County legal brief ; newsletters and form letters; and a photograph of John Segar Gravatt.