University of Virginia Library

Second Black Accepted

On September 28, 1950, a second
Negro was accepted. The new
student, a faculty member at Virginia
State College, was admitted
pursuant to the recent court decision,
to pursue the degree of
master of philosophy in education.
This was the same year the Bernard
Fontana became head of University
Food Services, the McCormack
Road Dorms were opened, and a
referendum was passed banning women
from Student Council.

Easy transition to integration
was not limited to the University
On October 7, 1955, the parents of
local negro (the paper was back to
lower case n's) students petitioned
the Charlottesville-Albemarle
School Board to allow Charlottesville
children to attend school on a
non-segregated basis. "All public
schools in Virginia are now operated
on a segregated system in
accordance with the policies of the
Governor and the State Board of
Education." The article did not
indicate the petition's success.

Other nearby areas also had problems.
"The year-long dispute over
an Ivy site flared anew today (November
18,1959). White residents
of Ivy, complaining that the site
selected by the Albemarle School
Board is a predominantly white
section, announced that they asked
for an injunction . . .to stop construction."
The principal objection
was that the action taken by the
School Board and State Board of
Supervisors "under the threat of
integration of county schools"
would "lend itself to the integration
of a white section." The
article explained that white live on
one side of the tracks (C&O), and
Negroes on the other.