Danville (Va.) Civil Rights Case Files, 1963-1973

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888

Summary

Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Danville (Va.) Civil Rights Case Files, 1963-1973, consists of court papers and legal files relating to the 1963 Civil Rights demonstrations in Danville. These files include bills of particulars, bond records, correspondence, court dockets, court orders, Dictabelts, evidence, judgments, petitions, photographs, receipts, subpoenas, and transcripts of testimony that document the legal aspects of the demonstrations from the Danville Corporation Court to the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

Biographical / historical:

Context for Records: The summer of 1963 witnessed a wave of civil rights demonstrations throughout the nation. In Danville, Virginia, the leaders of the Danville Christian Progressive Association (DCPA), an affiliate of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), organized a series of protests. Rev. Lawrence G. Campbell, Rev. Alexander I. Dunlap, Julius E. Adams, and Arthur Pinchback, Jr., believing that the Danville NAACP under the leadership of Doyle Thomas was too conservative, had founded the DCPA in 1960. These men, along with Rev. Lendall W. Chase, president of the Danville SCLC, took the lead in promoting civil rights in Danville, a city deep in Virginia's Black Belt with decades of systemic racism shaped by Jim Crow era polcies and therefore strong in segregationist sentiment.

Throughout 1962, the leaders repeatedly appeared before the Danville City Council to demand Black representation on the boards of city agencies and the end of segregation. In August 1962, with the help of Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) lawyer Len W. Holt, Campbell, Dunlap, Adams, and Chase filed the Danville Omnibus Integration Suit in federal court. The suit called for the integration of Danville's hospitals, schools, cemeteries, public buildings, public housing projects, teaching assignments, and city employment opportunities. On January 1, 1963, Dunlap, Chase, Campbell, Adams, and Pinchback were arrested at a segregated Howard Johnson's restaurant for trespassing after refusing to leave when the manager asked them to do so. In March, Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke at a meeting of the Danville SCLC.

On May 31, the Danville civil rights demonstrations began peacefully and ended without incident. Police did not make any arrests and the local press ignored the demonstration. The majority of the demonstrators were teenagers led by Thurman Echols and Ezell Barksdale. On June 5, the demonstrators changed tactics as the participants marched into City Hall and occupied the city manger's office, and the next day jointly impeded traffic by sitting down in the middle of a busy city street. Judge Archibald M. Aiken, Jr., judge of the Danville Corporation Court, was summoned by police to the scene and commanded the demonstrators to disperse. The demonstrators, however, refused, prompting Aiken to issue a temporary injunction that ordered the demonstrators to desist from, among other things, assembling in an unlawful manner, interfering with traffic and business, obstructing entrances to businesses and public buildings, participating and inciting "mob violence," and using loud language that disrupts the peace. The injunction, made permanent a few weeks later, formed the basis for many of the arrests made that summer.

In addition to the injunction, Danville officials used other methods to quell the demonstrations. A special grand jury, convened by Aiken, indicted the demonstration leaders on June 7 under the 1859 statute called the "John Brown's Law," that made inciting "the colored population to acts of violence or war against the white population" illegal. This set the bond for the leaders at $5,000 each. In mid-June and early July, the Danville city council, under the leadership of councilman John W. Carter, an attorney and staunch segregationist, adopted two ordinances designed to limit the demonstrations. One limited the size, place, and time of demonstrations and the other required a permit to parade.

Despite Aiken's and the city council's attempts, the demonstrations continued. Civil rights activists from the SNCC and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), including field secretaries Bob Zellner, Ivanhoe Donaldson, Avon Rollins, and Daniel Foss (SNCC), and Bruce Baines and Claudia Edwards (CORE) arrived in Danville to participate in the demonstrations. Civil rights lawyers affiliated with the National Lawyer's Guild and the NAACP, including William M. Kunstler, Dean Robb, Nathan Conyers, and Samuel W. Tuckers, also arrived in Danville to help represent the demonstrators. On June 10, after a full day of protests, the police and deputized city workers, with nightsticks and fire hoses, attacked a group of Black community members holding a vigil for individuals detained in the city jail. Forty-seven of the fifty or so people in attendance required medical attention. The next day, July 11, Martin Luther King, Jr., visited Danville in a show of support for the demonstrators, although he decided to not hold a march during the appearance.

The demonstrations continued, however, and by mid-July over 250 people had been arrested on charges of contempt, trespassing, disorderly conduct, assault, parading without a permit, and resisting arrest. When parents went to the jail to post bail for their children, some of them were arrested and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor by not providing adequate supervision.

The defense lawyers, including Len W. Holt, Ruth L. Harvey, Jerry Williams, and Harry I. Wood, in addition to those from the National Lawyer's Guild and the NAACP, attempted to remove the cases from the corporation court to federal court, but to no avail. Each defendant demanded an individual trial causing the corporation court's dockets to be filled to such an extent that no cases other than the demonstrator's could not be heard. The prosecutor requested a change of venue to alleviate the crowded docket and Aiken transferred about 124 cases to other courts throughout Virginia. This posed signigicant financial stress on many of the defendants who were then required to travel to a different court. In some cases, more than a hundred miles distant.

The defense lawyers again sought an order from the federal courts to stay all arrests, trials, and other proceedings for violation of the injunction and city ordinance. On August 8, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals halted these trials pending the outcome of the appeal. Judge Aiken, however, continued hearing the cases for disorderly conduct, parading without a permit, resisting arrest, and trespassing. He generally sentenced the guilty parties to two to five days in jail and a fine, suspending execution of the sentences pending an appeal. In September, defense counsel agreed to consolidate the cases and Aiken rescinded his orders for change of venue.

By mid-August, the demonstrations had largely waned due to Danville's unwillingness to yield to the protests. A year later, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal dissolved the injunction, but, by a 3-2 margin and with a strong dissent, declared Aiken's injunction constitutional. Moreover, the cases were remanded to the corporation court where the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals could hear the necessary appeals. The United States Supreme Court upheld the decision by a five-four margin.

In December 1966, Judge Aiken resumed the trials of those who violated his injunction. The trials proceeded quickly. Aiken did not find all the defendants guilty and dismissed some cases for lack of evidence. The usual sentence was eight days in jail and a fine of twenty dollars. The demonstration leaders received the stiffest penalties with Rev. Lawrence G. Campbell receiving the worst, being sentenced 250 days in jail and a $2,500 fine.

In early 1967, the Virginia Supreme Court began deciding the first of the appeals from the Danville Corporation Court. In Thomas v. City of Danville, the Court ruled Judge Aiken's injunction constitutional. In York v. City of Danville, they ruled that a parade can be subject to "reasonable and nondiscriminatory regulation," but that the city's time requirement for applying for a permit was too harsh. In 1970, the Court ruled in Rollins v. Commonwealth that the state must prove that a defendant not named in the injunction had knowledge of the injunction before violating its orders. In January 1973, the Supreme Court of Appeals heard the last of the cases associated with the demonstrations and requested that the Commonwealth's Attorney for Danville review the cases under appeal in light of the court's previous rulings. As a result, the Court overturned the convictions of almost 270 people. However, the Court upheld the convictions of those named in the injunction and for trespassing, obstructing traffic, and illegal picketing.

On February 9, 1973, the court proceedings involving the Danville demonstrations of 1963 came to end. Judge Glynn R. Phillips, Jr., of Clintwood was assigned to hear the defense motion to suspend the jail sentences and fines of those whose convictions had been upheld. Judge Aiken died in 1971, and the new Danville Corporation Court judge had recused himself. Against the prosecutor's objections, Judge Phillips suspended the jail sentences on condition of good behavior for two years, but ordered payment of fines that totaled more than $5,000.

Locality History: Danville (Va.), in Pittsylvania County, was named for the Dan River on which the city is located. Danville was established in 1793, was incorporated as a town in 1830, and became a city in 1890. The town of North Danville, incorporated in 1877 and renamed Neopolis in 1894, was added in 1896.

Acquisition information:

Records lent for microfilming and digital duplication by Danville, Virginia Circuit Court, 17 August 1999 under accession 38099.

Digital images made by Backstage in 2021 from the 1999 microfilm. CDs of the original Dictabelt audio recordings of the trials were also converted in 2021.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged into the following series:

  • Series I: Individual Case Files, A-Z individual files of persons arrested during the civil rights demonstrations of 1963.
  • Series II: Howard Johnson Trespassing Case, 1963, concerning the trial for those arrested for trespassing on January 1, 1963 at the Howard Johnson restaurant on Route 29 south of Danville.
  • Series III:Correspondence, 1963-1967 of clerk of the Danville Corporation Court and clerk of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
  • Series IV: Corporation Court Dockets,1963-1967 related to the demonstration cases.
  • Series V: Court Orders, 1963-1973 issued by the Danville Corporation Court and U.S. District Court, Western District of Virginia.
  • Series VI: Evidence, 1963 used in various cases.
  • Series VII: Notes, undated concerning cases and sentencing.
  • Series VIII: Petitions, 1963 Petition for Removal filed with the court.
  • Series IX: Receipts bonds and court costs related to various charges.
  • Series X: Special Grand Jury, 1963 indictments and subpoenas concerning "John Brown's Law."
  • Series XI: Transcripts, 1963 transcripts of testimony in various cases.
  • Series XII: Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, 1965-1972. decisions handed down by the court of appeals.
  • Series XIII: Dictabelt Records, 1966-1973 audio records of various cases heard in the Danville Corporation Court.

Physical location:
Library of Virginia
Physical description:
Digital images and audio files