Brief for Appellant in Green v. County School Board of New Kent County
8/29/1966
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This document comes from the Court of Appeals case in Green v. County School Board of New Kent County. The appellants (the parents) wanted the District Court's decision – which had approved New Kent County's "freedom of choice" plan for desegregation – overturned. The parents claimed that the New Kent County School district was still operating segregated schools in defiance of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, and that the district should be required to adopt a plan to immediately desegregate the schools.
Calvin Green (father of three and president of the New Kent County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and other parents had filed suit against the school district in New Kent County, Virginia. They argued that the district's "freedom of choice" plan did not adequately integrate the school system. They complained that students were still being educated in inherently unequal separate facilities, and that the school district refused to implement a plan providing for the elimination of racial discrimination.
Following the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared "separate but equal" unconstitutional, the Brown II decision placed responsibility for how to desegregate schools "with all deliberate speed" on local school authorities. Many school districts implemented "freedom of choice" plans. In theory, "freedom of choice" let students choose which school they wanted to attend. In reality, the plans kept districts mostly segregated.
In New Kent County before Brown, white students attended New Kent school and African American students attended George W. Watkins school. Under the district's new "freedom of choice" plan, some African American students transferred to New Kent; but no white students enrolled in George W. Watkins, which taught 85% of black students in the district.
In the District Court case, the school district's "freedom of choice" plan was upheld. The case was then brought to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which affirmed (agreed with) the lower court's decision (though it returned the case to the lower court for a more specific plan to desegregate teachers).
The case made it to the Supreme Court in 1968, which reversed the lower court rulings. In its unanimous opinion, the Supreme Court stated that the New Kent district was deliberately maintaining a segregated system, and that "freedom of choice" was not sufficient to bring about desegregation.
Calvin Green (father of three and president of the New Kent County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and other parents had filed suit against the school district in New Kent County, Virginia. They argued that the district's "freedom of choice" plan did not adequately integrate the school system. They complained that students were still being educated in inherently unequal separate facilities, and that the school district refused to implement a plan providing for the elimination of racial discrimination.
Following the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared "separate but equal" unconstitutional, the Brown II decision placed responsibility for how to desegregate schools "with all deliberate speed" on local school authorities. Many school districts implemented "freedom of choice" plans. In theory, "freedom of choice" let students choose which school they wanted to attend. In reality, the plans kept districts mostly segregated.
In New Kent County before Brown, white students attended New Kent school and African American students attended George W. Watkins school. Under the district's new "freedom of choice" plan, some African American students transferred to New Kent; but no white students enrolled in George W. Watkins, which taught 85% of black students in the district.
In the District Court case, the school district's "freedom of choice" plan was upheld. The case was then brought to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which affirmed (agreed with) the lower court's decision (though it returned the case to the lower court for a more specific plan to desegregate teachers).
The case made it to the Supreme Court in 1968, which reversed the lower court rulings. In its unanimous opinion, the Supreme Court stated that the New Kent district was deliberately maintaining a segregated system, and that "freedom of choice" was not sufficient to bring about desegregation.
This primary source comes from the Records of the U.S. Courts of Appeals.
National Archives Identifier: 81215221
Full Citation: Brief for Appellant; 8/29/1966; Charles C. Green, et al., v. County School Board of New Kent County; Briefs and Appendices, 1892 - 1996; Records of the U.S. Courts of Appeals, Record Group 276; National Archives at Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/appellant-brief-green-new-kent, March 26, 2025]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.