Samuel Wilbert Tucker Collection

Access and use

Location of collection:
Virginia Commonwealth University, Cabell Library
James Branch Cabell Library
Virginia Commonwealth University
P.O. Box 842003
901 Park Avenue
Richmond, VA 23284-2003
Contact for questions and access:
POC: SCA Staff
Phone: (804) 828-1108
Fax: (804) 828-0151
Restrictions:

Collection is open for use without restrictions

Terms of access:

None

Preferred citation:

Box/Folder Samuel Wilbert Tucker Collections, M 56, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University

Summary

Extent:
.36 Linear Feet
Creator:
Tucker, Samuel Wilbert
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Box/Folder Samuel Wilbert Tucker Collections, M 56, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains consists primarily of photocopies of various Virginia newspaper articles on school desegregation efforts in Virginia, from 1960-1964, in which Tucker played a role. The collection also contains newspaper articles on other civil rights issues as well as photocopies of correspondence and other materials.

Biographical / historical:

Samuel Wilbert Tucker (1913-1990), a Richmond civil-rights lawyer active in desegregation efforts in Virginia in the 1950s and 1960s, was the senior member of the Richmond law firm of Hill, Tucker and Marsh [which included Oliver W. Hill and Henry Marsh]. Tucker was also active in the NAACP, serving as chairman of the legal staff of the Virginia State Conference and representing Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia on the National Board of Directors.

Tucker, a native of Alexandria, Virginia, was born June 18, 1913. He graduated from Howard University in 1933 and began practicing law in Alexandria the following year. In 1939 he represented five young African Americans who had attempted to use the Alexandria library. Following a series of cases that left the situation unresolved, the city established a separate library for African Americans. During World War II he served in the 366th Infantry in Italy from 1941-1945. During the 1950s and 1960s, Tucker participated in litigation against more than 50 county and city school boards to compel desegregation of public schools and argued more than 30 cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals. He died October 19, 1990.

Acquisition information:
The materials in this collection were borrowed in 1996 from Julia E. Spaulding Tucker, wife of Samuel W. Tucker, to be photocopied. The originals were returned. Accession number 97/Jul/18
Arrangement:

The large portion of newspaper articles on desegregation efforts in Virginia are arranged chronological and then by topic.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard