Prince Edward County Integration Collection

Collection

Identifier: SC-000106

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Prince Edward County Integration Collection, largely donated by the Reverend Richard J. Keever, features contemporaneous newspaper clippings related to the Prince Edward County school closings, as well as the administrative papers of several local human rights groups, such as The Prince Edward Council on Human Relations and the Citizens Organization for Public Education (COPE). Further materials document the history of a bi-racial study group, which met at College Church in 1964, including related local newsletters. Rev. Keever began researching the repercussions of the school closings in the early 1970s with an eye towards a larger project; featured in this collection are his research notes as well as annotated newspaper clippings, and a 1964 thesis by Anthony C. Sherman entitled “Christian Response and a Protracted Racial Crisis: A Study of Prince Edward County, Virginia.”

The collection also includes two digital collections: Civil Rights Articles from the Hampden-Sydney Tiger, and the College Church Biracial Study Group. The latter contains scans of materials already found in the physical collections, but the former contains additional scanned clippings from the Hampden-Sydney Tiger not found in the physical collection.

Dates

1943/1975

Access to materials

Collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice. Because of the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access will require additional advanced notice. Copies of digital files will be provided for use upon request.

Use of these materials

The nature of the Hampden-Sydney College Archives and Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine depsite reasonable efforts. As a result, Hampden-Sydney College claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials. The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g. cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning and individual’s private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the College assumes no responsibility.

Biographical / Historical Note

The Prince Edward County Integration Collection documents the viewpoints and efforts of county residents regarding the attempted desegregation of Prince Edward County Public Schools. In 1951, students at Robert Russa Moton High School, the local high school for African-Americans, began a protest of inadequate school facilities that was eventually adopted in as one of the cases in the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States of America ruled that schools segregated by race were “inherently unequal,” depriving Black students of “equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.” A later Supreme Court decision in May of 1955 ordered that public schools across the nation desegregate “with all deliberate speed.”

Rather than comply with these orders, the leaders of Prince Edward County chose to close all public schools, a decision that lasted from 1959 until 1964. The decision was well-publicized at the time, and was a source of tension throughout the county.

Extent

0.5 Linear Feet

27 Digital Image Scans (Digital Collection: Civil Rights Articles from the Hampden-Sydney Tiger Newspaper)

34 Digital Image Scans (Digital Collection: College Church Biracial Study Group)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The Prince Edward County Integration Collection documents the viewpoints and efforts of county residents regarding the attempted desegregation of Prince Edward County Public Schools. Largely comprised of items donated by the Reverend Richard J. Keever, the collection features contemporaneous newspaper clippings related to the Prince Edward County school closings, as well as the administrative papers of several local human rights groups, such as The Prince Edward Council on Human Relations and the Citizens Organization for Public Education (COPE). Further materials document the history of a bi-racial study group, which met at College Church in 1964, including related local newsletters.

Arrangement

The collection is organized chronologically.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Richard J. Keever, Hampden-Sydney College

Related Materials

The Voice of Prince Edward County (SC 000107)

Processing Information

Inventory by: Shaunna Hunter, 2018. Processed by: Sarah Almond, 2021 January. Machine-readable finding aid created from previous inventories by: Sarah Almond, 2021 January.