[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 29, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1868]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     ON THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIRGINIA STATE CONFERENCE NAACP

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                     HON. ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 29, 2010

  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate 
the Virginia State Conference NAACP (the Conference). During its state 
conference on October 29-31, the Conference will celebrate its 75th 
Anniversary, and I would like to highlight some moments from the 
history of the organization and its contributions to the Commonwealth 
of Virginia.
  The Conference is celebrating its 75th Anniversary in the hometown of 
one of its founders, the late Attorney Oliver W. Hill, near the site of 
the first planning meeting of the Virginia State Conference. The 
Virginia State Conference NAACP was formed in 1935 at a time when 
racial inequality was permitted under the law. This injustice is what 
caused eight individuals to get together to form the Virginia State 
Conference of Branches of the National Association for the Advancement 
of Colored People. Those eight people were: Sadie Wyche, Suffolk; Atty. 
Oliver W. Hill, Richmond; Jesse M. Tinsley, Richmond; Jewel S. 
Carrington, Halifax; Zenobia Gilpin, Richmond; J. Byron Hopkins, 
Richmond; Dr. Leon Ransome, NAACP National Office, and Mrs. Spencer, 
Roanoke. The group held their first planned meeting in Roanoke in 1935.
  Many presidents have faithfully served the Conference since the 
organization's inception: J. M. Tinsley, 1935-1954; E. B. Henderson, 
1955-1956; Philip Y. Wyatt, 1957-1960; Robert D. Robertson, 1961-1962; 
L. Francis Griffin, 1963-1967; Charles Brown, 1968-1970; Melford 
Walker, 1971-1974; Isaac Ridley, 1975-1978; Roger Ford, 1979-1980; 
James Hicks, 1981-1982; James E. Ghee, 1983-1985; Charles Mangum, 1986-
1988; Jack W. Gravely, 1988-1991; Erenest Miller from 1991-1995; Paul 
C. Gillis, 1995-1997; Emmitt Carlton, 1997-1999; Rovenia Vaughan, 1999-
2003; Linda Thomas, 2003-2007. Currently, the organization is fortunate 
to have as its president Rev. Dr. Rayfield Vines, Jr., who has served 
since 2007.
  In the Conference's early years, J. Byron Hopkins, Jr., Wendell 
Walker and J. Thomas Hewing, Jr. provided legal services for the 
organization. In later years, an organized legal staff included Oliver 
W. Hill, Martin A. Martin, Samuel W. Tucker, Edwin C. Brown, Sr., 
Spotswood W. Robinson III, Robert H Cooley, Jr., Roland Ealey, Philip 
S. Walker, Rueben E. Lawson, W. Hale Thompson, Victor Ashe, J. Hugo 
Madison, James A. Overton, Jerry L. Williams, Otto L. Tucker, Ruth 
Harvey, Henry L. Marsh, III, John W. Scott, Jr., James E. Ghee, Dennis 
Montgomery, James Hume, Stephanie Valentine, S. Delacy Stith, Gwendolyn 
Jones Jackson and presently, Richard Patrick.
  Over the years, the conference has taken up several initiatives to 
help better the lives of Black Americans. In conjunction with the 
Virginia Teachers Association, the Conference's first major 
policy campaign was the elimination of the difference between the 
salaries paid to the white and Negro public school teachers, a 
difference which was later determined to be unlawful in Alston v. 
School Board of Norfolk, 112 F.2d 992 (4th Cir. 1940).

  Starting in 1947, the Conference took up the cause of eliminating 
segregation in public schools by requiring school boards to face the 
expense of equalizing schools for Negro children with schools for white 
children. Later, the Commonwealth of Virginia resolved to maintain 
racial segregation even after the United States Supreme Court struck 
down the premise of ``separate but equal.'' The Conference was 
determined to help desegregate Virginia's public schools. The 
Conference filed suits against school boards in 37 counties and 15 
cities or towns.
  It also fought to reopen schools in Prince Edward County after they 
avoided desegregation by closing their public schools for 5 years, 
starting in 1959. In May 1964, the Supreme Court ruled that the Equal 
Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment did not permit closing 
schools in Prince Edward County while public schools were being 
maintained in all other school districts in Virginia.
  The Conference supported defendants in criminal cases where the case 
highlighted racially discriminatory practices in the justice system, 
such as racial discrimination in the jury selection process.
  In 1981, after several organizations challenged the redrawing of the 
Virginia General Assembly districts, the Conference supported the 
lawsuit filed in the Federal Court in Richmond. The Conference helped 
negotiate the settlement which created one hundred single member 
districts.
  Madam Speaker, the Virginia State Conference NAACP has been 
instrumental in the fight to eliminate of racial inequality and 
discrimination in Virginia. However, its work is not yet done. Racial 
disparities still exist in our education system, our criminal justice 
system, and elsewhere in our society. As long as these exist, I know 
that the Virginia State Conference NAACP will remain vigilant in its 
fight for civil rights, equality and liberty.
  As the Virginia State Conference NAACP gathers to celebrate 75 years, 
the organization can truly remember its past, celebrate its present, 
and focus on the future with great expectations. I would like to 
congratulate Rev. Dr. J. Rayfield Vines, Jr., President of the 
organization, Executive Director King Salim Khalfani, and all of the 
members of the Virginia State Conference NAACP. I wish them many more 
years of dedicated service to the people of the Commonwealth of 
Virginia.

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