HJ353: Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Charles C. Green, et al. v. County School Board of New Kent.
WHEREAS, the Oliver Brown, et al. v. the Board of Education of Topeka decision in 1954 determined that separate schools for black and white students were inherently unequal, but did not define the process by which schools would be desegregated; and
WHEREAS, plans adopted by many school systems throughout the nation did not bring about the desired integration of public schools; and
WHEREAS, in 1968, under Freedom-of-Choice, New Kent County’s George W. Watkins School was attended by only black students, and the New Kent School was attended by only about 15 percent of the county’s black students and all of the county’s white students; and
WHEREAS, with two sons in the New Kent County Schools, Dr. Calvin Green, assisted by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), brought suit against the New Kent County School Board in the name of his youngest son, Charles C. Green; and
WHEREAS, Virginia’s preeminent civil rights attorneys, including Samuel W. Tucker and Henry L. Marsh III, participated in the case; and
WHEREAS, with the Green case, the Supreme Court of the United States established the duty of school boards to affirmatively eliminate all vestiges of state-imposed segregation and further placed an affirmative duty on school boards to integrate schools; and
WHEREAS, Charles C. Green, et al. v. County School Board of New Kent County, Virginia, et al. is recognized as the most significant public school desegregation case the Supreme Court decided after Brown v. Board of Education, changing the practice of school systems throughout the nation; and
WHEREAS, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote in a private note “When this opinion is handed down, the traffic light will have changed from Brown to Green. Amen!”; and
WHEREAS, the decision in Charles C. Green, et al. v. County School Board of New Kent County, Virginia, et al. was handed down by the Supreme Court on May 27, 1968; and
WHEREAS, both the George W. Watkins School and the New Kent School are recognized as National Historic Landmarks and included by the National Park Service among its Teaching with Historic Places lesson plans; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly commemorate the 40th anniversary of Charles C. Green, et al. v. County School Board of New Kent County, Virginia, et al., 391 U.S. 430 (1968) and its significance for all Virginians and for all Americans; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the General Assembly commend and recognize Dr. Calvin Green, whose principled foresight initiated the Green case; and, be it
RESOLVED FINALLY, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare copies of this resolution for presentation to Dr. Calvin Green and to New Kent County.