Browse Items (196 total)
Final Meeting of the House of Burgesses, 1776
Virginia's General Assembly first met in July–August 1619. At that time twenty-two burgesses representing eleven settlements assembled in Jamestown with the royal governor and his councilors, or advisors. They approved legislation related to tobacco…
Governor Stanley's Address to Virginians after the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education Decision, May 17, 1954
On May 17, 1954, after nearly two decades of legal challenges against racial segregation in public schools and higher education, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas that school segregation was…
J. Lindsay Almond School Integration Speech, January 20, 1959
On May 17, 1954, after nearly two decades of legal challenges against racial segregation in public schools and higher education, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas that school segregation was…
Letter from Ainslee B. and Alvin R.L. Dohme, Front Royal, 1959
After the United States Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that school segregation was unconstitutional in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education, Virginia's white political leaders at the state and local levels led a Massive Resistance movement,…
The Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution, December 15, 1791
The struggle for the ratification of the United States Constitution convinced some political leaders that amendments were needed to protect individual liberties from the strengthened national government created by the Constitution. During the First…
Executive Order 55 Supporting Virginians with Disabilities in the Commonwealth's Workforce, 2012
In 2012, Governor Bob McDonnell signed Executive Order Number 55 which supported Virginians with Disabilities in the Commonwealth's Workforce. The executive order also addressed the importance of employment of Virginians with disabilities enabling…
Is the plan working?, E-mail, 2006
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority announced on June 23, 2014 that the first phase of Metro’s Silver Line to provide service to Dulles International Airport would be ready to open by the end of July 2014. It was the culmination of a…
Autograph Album (First Five Entries), Library of Virginia, September 11, 2002
On the morning of September 11, 2001 four flights were hijacked by members of the Islamic extremist group, al- Qaeda, in coordinated attack against the United States. All four hijacked planes were scheduled to be cross-country flights from the East…
Bill Signing for Emergency Preparedness, Photograph, 2002
Governor Mark Warner signed the Emergency Preparedness Executive Order on Jan. 31, 2002. The order launched the Secure Virginia Initiative, established the Secure Virginia Panel, directed state agencies to prepare or update emergency response plans,…
Virginia Women's Legacies, Pamphlet, 2001
In 1919, at the National American Woman Suffrage Association’s (NAWSA) conference, President Carrie Chapman Catt proposed in her address the creation of a “league of women voters to finish the fight and aid in the reconstruction of the nation”. In…