Document Type

Article

Original Publication Date

2006

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Oral History Review

Volume

33

Issue

2

First Page

25

Last Page

44

DOI

10.1525/ohr.2006.33.2.25

Comments

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Oral History Review following peer review. The version of record is available online at: doi:10.1525/ohr.2006.33.2.25.

Date of Submission

June 2016

Abstract

In 1965, New Kent County, located just east of Richmond, Virginia, became the setting for the one of the most important school desegregation cases since Brown v. Board of Education. Ten years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared "separate but equal" unconstitutional, both public schools in New Kent, the George W. Watkins School for blacks and the New Kent School for whites, remained segregated. In 1965, however, local blacks and the Virginia State NAACP initiated a legal challenge to segregated schools, hoping to initiate desegregation where the process had yet to begin and to accelerate the process in areas where token desegregation was the norm. In 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court decision inCharles C. Green v. the School Board of New Kent County forced New Kent County and localities across the state and nation to fulfill the promise of Brown. While the case has been part of the court records since it was decided in 1968, it has remained largely unknown to the general public and many scholars of the era. This article is an attempt to use the tool of oral history to present the people and the story behind Green v. New Kent County and to add another piece to the puzzle that was school desegregation in this country.

Rights

© 2006 Oral History Association

Is Part Of

VCU History Publications

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