CONTENT WARNING
Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; and gender and sexual orientation.
Context
Danville does not commonly appear in the general narrative of civil rights protests and police brutality, but the city was the site of the most aggressive reaction to a peaceful civil rights protest in Virginia. In the 1960s, Danville was a small city of fewer than 50,000 people, about a quarter of whom were African American. As with the rest of the South, Danville was completely segregated, including the city's public schools where segregation had been declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954. Black citizens had no voice in the local government and had few employment opportunities other than menial positions in the tobacco and textile industries.
After an unsuccessful sit-in to desegregate the Danville public library in 1960, a group of Black Danville residents formed the Danville Christian Progressive Association (DCPA), which affiliated with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), a national civil rights organization whose leadership included Martin Luther King, Jr. On May 31, 1963, the DCPA began a series of daily marches to protest the absence of Black voices in the municipal government and the refusal of local businesses to hire Black workers. Demonstrators, many of whom were students, marched into City Hall on June 5 and occupied the city manager's office. Several leaders of the protests were arrested and indicted under a pre-Civil War law (sometimes described as John Brown's law) prohibiting anyone from inciting African Americans to violence against whites.
Hundreds of Black citizens held a peaceful prayer vigil on the evening of June 10 at the jail to protest the arrest and detention of demonstrators. There, police and city employees who had been deputized by the police chief attacked the participants with fire hoses and clubs. In the aftermath, almost 50 Black demonstrators, including women and children, were injured, some severely, and dozens of demonstrators were arrested.
The violent reaction to the vigil was publicized on television and gained the attention of the SCLC. Martin Luther King, Jr. traveled to Danville three times, and in one speech he denounced the police as "brutal" and "vicious" and among the most violent in the South. At the March on Washington in August 1963, John Lewis, leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) described Danville as a “police state” and called on Congress to pass a law to protect Black citizens there and across the South. SNCC activists from around the South came to Danville to support the civil rights movement there.
Demonstrations continued during the summer of 1963, and Danville police arrested more than 300 civil rights activists. Many Black home and business owners supported these activists by using their property as collateral to bail them out of jail as they awaited their trials.
It would take the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to create fundamental change in Danville, although SCLC leaders managed to negotiate with the city to hire its first Black police officer. The judge of the Danville court continued to try cases from the 1963 arrests for years and often handed down harsh sentences. The last of the defendants in the civil rights cases were not exonerated until 1973, when a federal lawyer suspended the last six demonstrators’ sentences. While they were not jailed, many had to pay hefty fines.
Accompanying this photograph of police making arrests in June 1963 are court records related to the experience of Paul Price, who stated in his 1966 trial that he was a bystander watching the demonstration of June 13, 1963, but who was beaten and arrested. In the audio file (3 minutes) of his court testimony he is responding to questions from civil rights attorney Ruth L. Harvey, who represented many of the men and women who had been arrested. The case file is his bail bond after his arrest in 1963. The court transcript is an excerpt from testimony of Danville's police chief during the September 19, 1963, trial of defendants arrested at the demonstration on June 5, 1963. Along with the legal documents is a front page article about the June 10 prayer vigil published in the Danville Register, a white newspaper.
Citations: Series VI, Evidence-Photographs; Paul Price testimony in Sylvester Burrell et. als., Dec. 15-16, 1966, Dictabelt 9; Paul Price Case File (Bail Bond); and Eugene G. McCain transcript of testimony (excerpt), Sept. 19, 1963, Series XI: Transcripts, all in Danville (Virginia) Corporation Court, 1963 Civil Rights Case Files, 1963–1973, Accession 38099, Local Government Records Collection, Library of Virginia. Danville Register, June 11, 1963.
Learn more about the history of racial violence in Danville and the 1963 demonstrations in The UncommonWealth blog.
Find more records in the Danville Civil Rights Case Files, 1963-1973, in the Library of Virginia's Digital Collections Discovery.
Standards
Goals and Guiding Principles:
Through this lesson, students will investigate the choices made by Danville residents who sought to address racial discrimination in their community and faced a violent response. Students will understand how activists peacefully worked for change to serve the public good. Students will understand how these events were part of the larger American civil rights movement that laid the groundwork for Black Americans’ expanded participation in political life. Students will explore how citizens can exert influence on local government to ensure that civil rights are protected by law.
Suggested Questions
Story Map (15 minutes)
VS, USII, CE, VUS, GOVT
Create a chart to map out the story here. Who are the protagonists? Who are the antagonists? Where do you place Paul Price in this chart?
Identify the problem, the actions taken by the participants towards a solution, and the challenges they faced. What was the ultimate solution/ending? Do you think this was the end of the story? Why or why not?
Philosophical Chairs (20 minutes)
VUS, GOVT
The Prompt
Nonviolent protest is not an effective way to promote social change.
The Setup
Students physically move to opposite sides of the room (or designated areas) representing "agree" and "disagree".
The Debate
Students take turns making their arguments, using evidence from the documents to illustrate their points.
Shifting Positions
Students can choose to change their positions and move across the room when they change their minds.
Reflections
At the end of the discussion, have students reflect on their initial positions, the arguments that influenced them, and the overall learning experience. What are the lessons learned from the Danville action and the larger civil rights movement?
Decision Making—Summative Assignment (20 minutes)
CE, VUS
What do you think of the actions taken by the Black community here? Who decided to get involved? Why do you think some people chose to get involved and others did not? What other actions could Black Danville citizens have tried in order to achieve integration? Think about efforts you have learned about from other communities, and consider how successful those were, and why.
Exit Ticket (10 minutes)
VS, USII, CE, VUS, GOVT
List three things that you learned, two things you found interesting, and one question that you still have.