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Dorothy Davis, et al. v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, Virginia, et al. (103 F. Supp. 337)The Dorothy Davis case was argued before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond on February 25th to 29th, 1952. The case originated out of the student strike at Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville, organized by student leader Barbara Johns to demand a new black school. The strike in May 1951 led to parent meetings and to the involvement of the state NAACP counsel, Oliver W. Hill and Spotswood Robinson. Because the NAACP was shifting its strategy to attack segregation directly, Hill and Robinson urged Moton students and parents to file a suit to challenge segregation directly. The three-judge panel of Armistead Dobie, Sterling Hutcheson, and Albert Vickers Bryan upheld segregation in Virginia schools. After reviewing the testimony of experts from both sides, they concluded that "indisputably" segregation "rests neither upon prejudice, nor caprice, nor any other measureless foundation." Instead, it was "one of the ways of life in Virginia." They found "no hurt or harm to either race." The Davis case was appealed to the Supreme Court and tried with the Brown v. Board of Education cases. |
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Copyright William G. Thomas, III and Rector and Board of Visitors, University of Virginia.
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