Lessons of the Sixties: A history of local Washington, DC activism for peace and justice from 1960-1975: James G. Stockard papers
Scope and Contents
Lessons of the Sixties is an organization dedicated to documenting the efforts and lessons learned by local DC Metropolitan Area activists, students, organizers and those who dreamed of building a better world through new ideas, political advocacy, local organization building, and other means in the years 1960-1975. Since 2010 the Institute for Policy Studies has served as the organizational home for the Lessons of the 60s providing office space and infrastructural support. James Stockard's family deposited these papers with the project and the project donated them to GW to become part of the complete record of the history this project is preserving through its efforts.The collection contains correspondence, news clippings, reports, speeches, and school directories. The material dates from 1947-2002. These are the records of James G. Stockard about his time on the Board of Education member in Arlington County. Stockard was a proponent of desegregating Arlington County Schools. In addition to Arlington specific documents there are also documents related to desegregation in schools nationally.
Dates
- Creation: 1947-2002
Creator
- Stockard, James G. (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Some material may be copyrighted or restricted. It is the patron's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections.
Biography
James G. Stockard (1915-2002), a local advocate for desegregation of public schools, served three terms on the Arlington School Board of Education. Stockard was born in Texas in 1915. After graduating in 1936 with a degree in business administration from the University of Texas, Stockard went on to receive a master’s in public administration from American University. Stockard worked for many years for the U.S. Census Bureau, General Services Administration, Department of State, and U.S. Postal service before retiring and becoming and independent management consultant in 1972. In addition to working, Stockard was also a member of the school board of Arlington, VA between 1955-1968.
Stockard and his wife first moved to Arlington in 1941 and became active in the Parent Teacher Associations for each one of their three children’s schools. Stockard joined the school board in 1955. The landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education had only been resolved the year before Stockard became board chair. Brown V Board of Education of Topeka declared that state laws allowing separate schools for black and white students was unconstitutional. A year later, the desegregation order known as Brown II was delivered stating that schools should be desegregated “with all deliberate speed.” In the state of Virginia there were two main reactions to the supreme court case. In more southern parts of Virginia, the public school systems were closed for five years to avoid integration. In Northern Virginia the locals were more open to desegregation but there were still significant pushbacks.
As Chairman of the Arlington school board, Stockard helped navigate the schools during a time of turmoil as they were under court order to desegregate the schools. There was a massive pushback from local officials to resist any integration. The school board had resisted to integration initially due to a 1958 Virginia State law that ordered that schools close to resist desegregation. That same year, Stockard was one of two member to vote to allow black students to apply for admission to some of Arlington’s all white schools. The NAACP spent the summer of 1958 in court fighting for black students to gain entry into white schools. In September 1958, the NAACP succeeded when U.S. District Judge Albert V. Bryan Sr. ruled that four black seventh graders entered the all-white Stratford Junior High School in the next semester. On January 19, 1959 the Virginia Supreme Court and federal appeals court ruled that the resistance laws were unconstitutional. The segregationists swore that they would block the children attending Stratford school so the county police prepared for a riot. When the time came for the four students to start the rioters did not show up.
Extent
2.5 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Lessons of the Sixties is an organization dedicated to documenting the efforts and lessons learned by local DC Metropolitan Area activists, students, organizers and those who dreamed of building a better world through new ideas, political advocacy, local organization building, and other means in the years 1960-1975. Since 2010, the Institute for Policy Studies has served as the organizational home for the Lessons of the 60s providing office space and infrastructural support. Since 2010 the project volunteers have interviewed more than 80 local activists, students, organizers and those who dreamed of building a better world through new ideas, political advocacy, local organization building, and various other means in the Washington, D.C. area in the years 1960-1975. At times during the interviews the interviewees would use personal records as examples or memory prompts. Those records were also donated to GW Special Collections and comprise a more encompassing collection of records of this time period in Washington D.C.'s history.
James Stockard's family deposited these papers with the project and the project donated them to GW to become part of the complete record of the history this project is preserving through its efforts. This collection contains documents from James G. Stockard, the school board chair of Arlington schools between 1955-1968. During Stockard’s tenure the Arlington schools were desegregated, despite local backlash. The collection contains correspondence, news clippings, reports, speeches and school directories related to the desegregation of schools in Arlington and nationally.
Arrangement
Organized into three series: Integration, Personal documents, correspondence, and speeches, and Arlington Schools.
Physical Location
Materials are stored off-site, and will require additional retrieval time. Please contact the Special Collections Research Center for more information.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Lessons of the Sixties, February 7, 2017 (2017.005)
Keywords
Keywords provided by the donor: Historical reflections, Tennis, Hate mail 1957, Kindergarten 1964, Open vs. segregated meetings, Court case 1965, Integration 1955-1958, Integration 1956-1966, Integration 1964, Politics & leaders, Article: History of integration 1999, Clippings & letters, Letters of support, and Loyalty oath.
- Title
- Guide to the Lessons of the Sixties: A history of local Washington, DC activism for peace and justice from 1960-1975: James G. Stockard papers, 1947-2002
- Author
- Special Collections Research Center, The George Washington University
- Date
- 2017
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English
Repository Details
Part of the Special Collections Research Center, The George Washington University Repository
George Washington University Gelman Library
2130 H Street NW
Washington DC 20052 United States of America
speccoll@gwu.edu