A Guide to the Virginia. Dept. of Education. School Division. Desegregation files, 1965-1971
Virginia. Dept. of Education. School Division. Desegregation files, 1965-1971
29479
A Collection in the Library of Virginia
Accession Number 29479
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia 800 East Broad Street Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000 USA Phone: (804) 692-3888 (Archives Reference) Fax: (804) 692-3556 (Archives Reference) Email: archdesk@lva.virginia.gov(Archives) URL: http://www.lva.virginia.gov/
Virginia. Dept. of Education. School Division. Desegregation files, 1965-1971. Accession 29479. State government records,
The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219
Acquisition Information
Transferred by the Division of Finance, Richmond, Va., 25 April 1977.
Records, 1965-1971, including clippings, correspondence, forms, maps, and reports between Virginia public school boards and
superintendents and the U.S. Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare, regarding efforts to desegregate Virginia schools. The
records are housed in 18 boxes and arranged alphabetically by city or county name. The Library only has files for Fairfax-York
Cities/Counties but nothing for cities/counties A-E.
After the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision which ruled "separate educational facilities are inherently
unequal," state officials in Virginia continued to evade school desegregation and maintained a policy aimed at minimizing
desegregation. State officials passed legislation making the school desegregation process more difficult through a policy
known as Massive Resistance. It wasn't until 1959 when the federal courts overturned many of Virginia's antidesegregation
laws that the process of desegregation began, although it proceeded very slowly and as late as 1965 few black students in
Virginia went to desegregated schools.
At first Virginia adopted "Freedom of Choice" plans which did nothing to ensure school integration as it did not "ensure racial
balance in schools." It wasn't until the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare began to use portions of the 1964
Civil Rights Act to threaten localities with the loss of federal funding if they did not integrate their schools, that progress
was made. Additionally a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions increased the pace of school desegregation even more. In 1968
the Charles C. Green et. al. v. County School Board of New Kent County, Virginia, decision ended the "Freedome of Choice"
plan and used other factors, such as the ratio of black to white students and faculty, to determine whether a desegregation
plan was acceptable. Further Supreme Court decisions and pressure from the federal government helped to achieve the goal of
school desegregation by the mid 1970s.
The desegregation files, 1965-1971, can be used to track the process of desegregation as city and county school boards had
to show their progress through numerous forms and plans submitted to the U.S. Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare. Local
school boards had to submit forms (Summary of enrollment and staff; and Estimated enrollment and staff) and desegregation
plans to show their compliance with School Desegregation Plans Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The forms contain
the name of the school, county, total number of students, total number by race (White, American Indian, Black, Other), total
number of Full time and part time teachers (also categorized by race) and Office staff. These numbers were used to show the
ratio of black to white students and faculty to help determine if a school board had an acceptable ratio at each school. The
plans included maps outlining school locations, changes to schools, and notices put in local newspapers showing the local
adoption of school desegregation plans. The plans listed the steps being taken to desegregate the schools, such as changing
a former white high school to now serve all high school students and to reassign faculty across the schools without any regard
to race.
Included are school board resolutions and signed Assurances (or Statements) of Compliance with Policies for School Desegregation
Plans, copies of court cases, notices sent to parents, and copies of hearings before the Commissioner of Education, Dept.
of Health, Education, and Welfare. Also included is correspondence from the U.S. Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare about
the schools plans, stating whether or not the school boards have adequately met the purpose of the Civil Rights Act and whether
they would receive federal funding or not.