-
President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation freed all slaves in areas of rebellion, but did not apply to states loyal to the Union, including the future state of West Virginia. -
West Virginia Legislature ratified the Fourteenth Amendment
The Amendment granted full citizenship to African-Americans in the United States. In Harper's Ferry, Jefferson County, founded the first African-American College in West Virginia. -
West Virginia State Senate ratified the Fifteenth Amendment
The fifteenth Amendment granted African-Americans the right to vote. -
Unconstitutional Ruling by The Supreme Court
Ohio County Circuit Court indicted Taylor Strauder, a carpenter in Wheeling WV. for murdering his wife. He was sentenced to hang. The Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to try an African-American in a court system that would not allow African-Americans to serve on the juries. -
New police force for Charleston, West Virginia
The Mayor of Charleston, West Virginia and the City Council appointed Ernest Porterfield, as a police officer. He was the first African American police officer in West Virginia. Within one hour, the remainder of the white police force resigned. Rather than asking for Porterfield's resignation, the Mayor hired a new force. -
Voting Bill Approved
The governor approved a bill, allowing all eligible voting citizens, including African-American, to be jurors. -
Williams v. Board of Education of Tucker County
Carrie Williams was an African-American school teacher in Tucker county. The Board of Education tried to save money by cutting her school term from eight months to five months. Her lawyer J.R. Clifford argued that African-American schools should receive the same funding and have the same rights as white schools. Williams was victorious and was the first in the nation to determine discrimination on the basis of color to be illegal. -
Basketball Tournaments
West Virginia's State Basketball Tournaments began at the Colored Institute gym at Institute, Kanawha County. It was deemed the "West Virginia's Separate But Equal High School Basketball Tournament." -
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
The United States Supreme Court to prohibit segregation in schools based on race. This prompted the desegregation of West Virginia's public schools and colleges. -
NAACP
Willard A. Brown the president of the Charleston Branch of the NAACP spoke to African-Americans at the White Sulphur Springs Baptist Church, in Greenbrier County about desegregation in schools. White protesters shut off the lights and fired guns outside the church. White Sulphur Springs students voted to hold their prom in December to prevent African-Americans from attending the annual affair held at The Greenbrier. -
West Virginia's first chapter of CORE
The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was formed in Charleston and began boycotts on Woolworth, Kresge, and Newberry five-and-ten-cent stores due to integration. These stores refused to serve African-Americans at their lunch counters. Some West Virginia businesses remained segregated until the late 1960's. -
United Mine Workers
Arnold Miller, became the first native West Virginian to head the United Mine Workers (UMW) Union. He appointed Levi Daniels president of District 29 in southern West Virginia, He was the first African-American district president in the history of the UMW.