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Danville (Va.) Civil Rights Case
Files, 1963-1973 physical materials and audio recordings have been digitized and are available through
There are no restrictions.
Danville (Va.) Civil Rights Case Files, 1963-1973. Accession 38099, Local Government Records Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
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.
The Danville (Va.) Circuit Court Clerk lent the Library of Virginia the original case files and Dictabelts for microfilming and digitial conversion in 1999. The microfiliming was performed by Henry Micrographics in 1999 and produced Miscellaneous Microfilm reels 2325-2329 and preservation microfilm reels 1-5; however, it was determined Miscellaneous Microfilm reels 2327-2329 (or Reels 3-5) did not meet microfilm quality standards, and the records were refilmed in 2000-2001, creating new Reels 3-5 which were stored at the State Records Center. Service copies of the new reels were never created. The Library of Virginia used the security microfilm, Reels 1-5, to scan and create digitial images of the documents and at this time it was detemined that the service copy film (Miscellaneous Microfilm reels 2325-2329) were different from the preservation microfilm (Reels 1-5), as more material was include on Reels 1-5.
A project was completed around 2000 by Dictaphone Corporation to record and transfer the audio contents and the inserts of these Dictabelts onto compact disks.
As of 2024, upon conversion of the microfilmed material to digital images and the conversion of the CD audio to audio files 2021-2022, the Local Records manager deteremined the service copies of the microfilm and audio CDs to be redudent records in LVA holdings. These copies were removed from the collections.
In 2023 M. Mason and V. Brooks went through the approximately 4,300 digital images to arrange them so they would pair with the finding aid. At this time duplicate, blank, and microflim imaging targets were removed from the digital files. Corrections were made to alphabetical and chronological orders and misidentified or newly discovered material was identified.
Encoded by Jay Gaidmore, 1999; updated by Alex Lorch, 2003; updated by M. Mason; May 2024
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.
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.
This collection is arranged into the following series:
Original court records(6 boxes of records and 130 Dictabelt recordings)retained by the Danville (Va.) Circuit Court.
See also: Virginia.
Consists of the individual files of persons arrested during the civil rights demonstrations of 1963. Files include bills of particulars, bond records, judgments, receipts and subpoenas. The files of juveniles arrested include biographical information, including age, education, prior arrests, and family history.
Contents arranged alphabetically by last name
Includes transcript of testimony and a notice of appeal and assignment of errors relating to the trial of Julius E. Adams, Lawrence G. Campbell, Lendall W. Chase, Alexander I. Dunlap, and Arthur Pinchback, Jr., arrested for trespassing on January 1, 1963 at the Howard Johnson restaurant on Route 29 south of Danville.
Contents arranged chronologically
Primarily consists of correspondence between the clerk of the Danville Corporation Court and defense attorney, Ruth L. Harvey, regarding notices of appeal and assignments of errors, and designation of parts of the record. The latter of which she requests the clerk to forward to the clerk of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Also, includes correspondence from the clerk of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals indicating receipt of specified materials, and a telegram from the Seattle, Washington, branch of the NAACP requesting information on the arrest of Lawrence G. Campbell and Richard D. Goodwin.
Contents arranged chronologically
Includes the Corporation Court's dockets for the demonstration cases from June 1963-April 1967. Lists name of defendant, alleged offense, date of offense, date of trial and disposition of case.
Contents arranged chronologically
Consists of continuances, court orders, judgments, and sentences, issued by the Danville Corporation Court from June 1963-February 1973. Judge Aiken, from June 1963-May 1967, ordered the arrest of demonstrators for violating his injunction and inciting the colored populace, the appearance of demonstrators before the court to answer these violations, the investigation of the juvenile defendants, the serving of jail time and payment of fines, the acquittals of defendants, the consolidation of cases, and the changes of venue. The court orders issued January-February 1973 involved the disqualifying and recusing of the Danville Corporation Judge Stuart L. Craig, the selection of Judge Phillips to replace Craig, the subpoenaing of defense witnesses, and the suspension of jail sentences for the remaining defendants. Also, includes judgements issued by Judge Ted Dalton of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in May 1967.
Contents arranged chronologically
Includes the June 7, 1963 issue of the Danville Bee and a note from the paper's general manager indicating the writer and photographer of the June 10, 1963 article entitled. "Thirty Demonstrators Jailed." Also includes excerpts from the July 10, 1963 meeting of the Danville City Council during which it passed an ordinance governing parades, a photocopy of the temporary injunction and restraining order issued by Judge Aiken, and photographs. The photographs show the demonstrators on the steps of city hall, and the arrest of Rev. Lawrence G. Campbell and Thurman Echols.
Contents arranged alphabetically by material type
Includes pieces of paper and lists indicating court cases, dates and places of offenses, trial dates, disposition of cases, and sentences.
Consists of the Petition for Removal filed with the clerk of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia on June 17, 1963, by defense lawyers Len W. Holt and William M. Kunstler. The petition tried to remove the demonstration cases to federal court.
Includes receipts for bond refunds and payment of fines.
Contents arranged loosely by the charge
Includes indictments and subpoenas from the Special Grand Jury responsible for indicting the demonstration leaders under "John Brown's Law." Contains names of the members of the grand jury.
Contents arranged chronologically
Contains transcripts of testimony from:
Commonwealth of Virginia v. Lawrence G. Campbell, Alexander I. Dunlap, Arthur Pinchback, Jr., and Julius Adams, September 19, 1963
Commonwealth of Virginia v. Lawrence G. Campbell and Alexander I. Dunlap, Violation of Sections 18.1-14 and 18.1-254, October 22, 1963
Commonwealth of Virginia v. Avon Williams Rollins, August 6, 1963
City of Danville v. Lawrence G.Campbell, et als, October 1963
Contents arranged by case
Consists of decisions handed down from October 1965-December 1972. Primarily includes writs of error and supersedeas.
Contents arranged chronologically
This series consists of full case recordings from many of the Civil Rights demonstrations cases heard in the Danville Corporation Court from December 1966 through April 1967. The recordings include witnesses' testimony, defense attorney's motions and arguments, Commonwealth and Danville City attorney's arguments, rulings and sentences of Judge Archibald M. Aiken, Jr., witness and recorder oaths, and the calling of the court docket.
This series is organized into 27 subseries (subseries A-AA), with each subseries representing one case. A majority of the cases documented in these audio recordings consist of dozens of individual cases consolidated and heard together on the charges of Violation of Temporary Injunction and Restraining Order. See the "defendants named" section in each subseries for the full list of individuals included in these consolidated cases. Names are listed in the order they occur in the audio, generally through the courts roll call. If abesent, the reason for the defendant's absence in placed in ( ) following the name. Additionally each subseries contains the belt list with information on the runtime and contents for each belt.
Also contained herein is the recording of the 1973 February 9 Corporation Court hearing concerning the defense motion to suspend the sentences for those defendants whose sentences had been upheld on appeal by the Supreme Court of Appeals.
The original Dictabelts included wrapper containing written summaries of their audio contents, noting the approximate time the content appears in the recording. In some cases, copies of the original court docket also accompany the original Dictabelt.
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