Teaching
 


Teaching Ideas

Brown v. Board of Education and its impact in Norfolk, Virginia

This year, schools across the nation have commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education (1954). As we remember this historic Supreme Court decision, however, it is important that we do more than simply celebrate Brown. We must place the case in context, so that we may better understand the role it played in the history of American public education.

There is no better place to study Brown than in Norfolk, Virginia. Although often overlooked, Norfolk was one of the oldest and most important cities involved in the desegregation struggles of the last century. As such, it witnessed three major educational battles, which may help us frame the Brown decision in the long-developing and complex series of events that have defined the relationship between race and public education in America.

In order to study the three educational battles in detail, teachers may divide their classes into groups. The following list of reading materials is offered as a suggested course cartridge.

You may also find these resources useful.

Timeline of events | Political Cartoons & Massive Resistance | Legislative Documents & Films


Group Listing

Group I: Race and the Development of Norfolk Public Schools, 1870-1920

Henry S. Rorer, History of Norfolk Public Schools, 1681-1968. Norfolk: 1968.

J. L. Buck, The Development of Public Schools in Virginia. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1942.

Gary Ruegsegger, The History of Norfolk Public Schools. Norfolk: Norfolk Public Schools, 2000.

Peter F. Orazem, "Black-White Differences in Schooling Investment and Human Capital Production in Segregated Schools," The American Economic Review 77 (Sept 1987):714-23.


Group II: Education through the Press: P.B. Young and the Norfolk Journal and Guide

Henry Lewis Suggs, "P. B. Young of The Norfolk Journal and Guide : A Booker T. Washington Militant, 1904-1928," The Journal of Negro History , Vol. 64, No. 4. (Autumn, 1979): 365-376.

Henry Lewis Suggs, P. B. Young, Newspaperman: Race, Politics, and Journalism in the New South, 1910-1962 . Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988.

Raymond Graves, "Hancock, Jackson, and Young: Virginia's Black Triumvirate, 1930 - 1945."
Virginia Magazine of History and Biograph y 85:4 (1977).


Group III: Race and the Salary Issue: Aline Black and Melvin Alston cases (1939-40)

Bruce Beezer,"Black Teachers' Salaries and the Federal Courts Before Brown v. Board of Education: One Beginning for Equity." The Journal of Negro Education 55 (Spring 1986): 200-213.

J. Douglas Smith, Managing White Supremacy: Race, Politics, and Citizenship in Jim Crow Virginia . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.

Earl Lewis, In Their Own Interests: Race, Class and Power in Twentieth Century Norfolk, Virginia . Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.

Alexander Leidholdt, Standing Before the Shouting Mob: Lenoir Chambers and Virginia's Massive
Resistance to Public School Integration . Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1997.

ALSTON et al. v. SCHOOL BOARD OF CITY OF NORFOLK et al. UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT. 112 F.2d 992; 1940 U.S. App. LEXIS 4464; 9 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1059; 130 A.L.R. 1506 (June 18, 1940). [ online ]

SCHOOL BOARD OF NORFOLK ET AL. v. ALSTON ET AL. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES. 311 U.S. 693; 61 S. Ct. 75; 85 L. Ed. 448; 1940 U.S. LEXIS 204; 9 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1407 (October 28, 1940). [ online ]


Group IV: Norfolk Schools and the NAACP's move
from equalization to integration, 1940-54

Doxey A. Wilkerson, "The Negro School Movement in Virginia: From 'Equalization' to 'Integration,'" The Journal of Negro Education 29 (Winter 1960): 17-29.

The Road to Brown video

Henry S. Rorer, History of Norfolk Public Schools, 1681-1968. Norfolk: 1968.

Gary Ruegsegger, The History of Norfolk Public Schools. Norfolk: Norfolk Public Schools, 2000.

J. Douglas Smith, Managing White Supremacy: Race, Politics, and Citizenship in Jim Crow Virginia . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.

Earl Lewis, In Their Own Interests: Race, Class and Power in Twentieth Century Norfolk, Virginia . Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.

Alexander Leidholdt, Standing Before the Shouting Mob: Lenoir Chambers and Virginia's Massive
Resistance to Public School Integration . Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1997.


Group V: Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and Brown II (1955)

BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION 344 U.S. 1 (1952) [ online ]
BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION 344 U.S. 141 (1952) [ online ]
BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION 347 U.S. 483 (1954) [ online ]
BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION 349 U.S. 294 (1955) [ online ]
James Paterson, Brown v. Board of Education . Boston: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Website list under "Brown cases" on this site.


Group VI: School Desegregation, Harry F. Byrd, and Massive Resistance

J. Rupert Picott, "The Status of Educational Desegregation in Virginia," The Journal of Negro Education 25 (Summer 1956): 345-351.

Matthew Lassiter and Andrew B. Lewis's "Massive Resistance Revisited: Virginia's White Moderates and the Byrd Organization" in The Moderates Dilemma , ed. Matthew Lassiter and Andrew Lewis. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998. (see Littlejohn for a copy)

James W. Ely, Jr., The Crisis of Conservative Virginia: The Byrd Organization and the Politics of
Massive Resistance . Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1976.

Ronald L. Heinemann, Harry Byrd of Virginia . Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996.

Websites:
- http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/vahistory/massive.resistance/
- http://www.virginiaplaces.org/population/massiveresistance.html
- http://www.virginiaplaces.org/government/byrdorg.html
- http://www.educationalsynthesis.org/famamer/Byrd.html
- http://www.library.vcu.edu/jbc/speccoll/exhibit/seibel9.html
- http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/reHIST604/byrd.html

Group VII: James J. Kilpatrick and Interposition

Joseph Thorndike, "The Sometimes Sordid Level of Race and Segregation: James J. Kilpatrick and the Virginia Campaign against Brown," in The Moderate's Dilemma: Massive Resistance to School Desegregation in Virginia , ed. Matthew Lassiter and Andrew Lewis. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998.


Group VIII: Beckett v. School Board City of Norfolk (1957-1959)

Cases listed under Norfolk Cases on this website.

Antonio T. Bly,"The Thunder During the Storm - School Desegregation in Norfolk, Virginia, 1957 - 1959: A Local history." Journal of Negro Education. 67:2 (1998).


Group IX: The Divided White Community: The Tidewater Educational Foundation, the Defenders of State Sovereignty and Individual Liberties, and Lenoir Chambers's opposition to segregation.

Alexander Leidholdt, Standing Before the Shouting Mob: Lenoir Chambers and Virginia's Massive
Resistance to Public School Integration . Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1997.

Antonio T. Bly,"The Thunder During the Storm - School Desegregation in Norfolk, Virginia, 1957 - 1959: A Local history." Journal of Negro Education. 67:2 (1998).

Group X: The Norfolk 17 and desegregation in Norfolk Public Schools, 1958-1970

The Norfolk Journal and Guide, esp. August-September 1958 and January-February 1959.

Antonio T. Bly,"The Thunder During the Storm - School Desegregation in Norfolk, Virginia, 1957 - 1959: A Local history." Journal of Negro Education. 67:2 (1998).

Norfolk 17 videos on this site

"Virginia's 'Massive Resistance' Laws Declared Unconstitutional, J ournal of Negro Education 28 (Spring 1959): 163-172.



Group XI: Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education 402 U.S. 1 (1971),
Busing in Norfolk, and the issue of "White Flight."

Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education 402 U.S. 1 (1971). [ online ]

Summary and participants [ online ]

Susan E. Eaton and Christina Meldrum,"Broken Promises: Resegregation in Norfolk, Virginia," in Dismantling Desegregation , ed. Gary Orfield and Susan Eaton. New York: The New Press, 1996.

Gary Orfield, "Turning Back to Segregation," in Dismantling Desegregation , ed. Gary Orfield and Susan Eaton. New York: The New Press, 1996.

Leslie G. Carr and Donald J. Zeigler. "White Flight and White Return in Norfolk: A Test of Predictions," Sociology of Education 63 (Oct. 1990): 272-282.

David J. Armor, "Response to Carr and Zeigler's 'White Flight and White Return in Norfolk," Sociology of Education 64 (April 1991): 134-139.

Leslie G. Carr, "Reply to Armor," Sociology of Education 64 (July 1991): 223-27.


Group XII: Riddick v. The School Board of the City of Norfolk (1986)

Riddick v. School Bd., Civil Action No. 83-326-N, UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA, NORFOLK DIVISION, 627 F. Supp. 814; 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15141, July 9, 1984, Decided, July 9, 1984, Filed [ online ]

Riddick v. School Bd., No. 84-1815, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT, 784 F.2d 521; 1986 U.S. App. LEXIS 22185, January 8, 1985, Argued, February 6, 1986 [ online ]

Riddick v. School Bd., No. A-925 (85-1962)., SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, 476 U.S. 1180; 106 S. Ct. 2913; 91 L. Ed. 2d 542; 1986 U.S. LEXIS 1294; 54 U.S.L.W. 3823, June 16, 1986 [ online ]

Riddick v. School Bd. of Norfolk, No. 85-1962., SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, 479 U.S. 938; 107 S. Ct. 420; 93 L. Ed. 2d 370; 1986 U.S. LEXIS 4604; 55 U.S.L.W. 3316, November 3, 1986 [ online ]

Susan E. Eaton and Christina Meldrum,"Broken Promises: Resegregation in Norfolk, Virginia," in Dismantling Desegregation , ed. Gary Orfield and Susan Eaton. New York: The New Press, 1996.

Gary Orfield, "Turning Back to Segregation," in Dismantling Desegregation , ed. Gary Orfield and Susan Eaton. New York: The New Press, 1996.



Group XIII: The Backlash Thesis

Klarman, Michael. "How Brown Changed Race Relations: The Backlash Thesis," Journal of American History 1994 81(1): 81-118.

Group XIV: Norfolk Public Schools and Race Issues Today

Norfolk Public School Website [ online ]
School Performance Reports [ online ]
Superintendant's Assessment [ speech ]
Schools and Testing [ online ]
The Virginian Pilot [ online ]