Browse Items (248 total)

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The Tribune, advertised as "the only negro newspaper published in Southwest Virginia," made the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education their top story. They reported that the Court would hear arguments later in the year on "how and…

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Carl Auvil wrote the governor that “Both the principles of Christianity and the law of our land point toward elimination of racial segregation.”

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Robert Leon Bacon described the restrictions that segregation placed on his life and wrote that “Virginia is the mother of presidents but it is not the home of democracy.”

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In November 1775, from the safety of a British warship near Norfolk, Virginia's royal governor, the earl of Dunmore, decided to handle the explosive political situation by declaring martial law and offering freedom to enslaved people who fought for…

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The summary of Billy's trial included the accusation that he "did in Company of & Conjunction with diverse Enemies of the Commonwealth in armed Vessels feloniously & Traiterously Wage & Levy War against the Commonwealth." His lawyers argued that he…

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With his request for Jefferson to reprieve Billy, Mann Page included an opinion from Henry Lee and William Carr, justices who dissented from the verdict and supported Page's efforts to commute the death sentence.

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Thomas Jefferson granted a reprieve of Billy until the end of June 1781, and the General Assembly vacated the conviction.

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With his request for Jefferson to reprieve Billy, Mann Page included a copy of the indictment, conviction, and sentence from the Prince William County Court.
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