A Guide to the Papers of John Segar Gravatt ca. 1941-1999
A Collection in
The Special Collections Department
Accession Number 11584
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USA
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Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Processed by: Sharon Defibaugh, 2001 January 12
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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.