Panel commemorates 50 year anniversary of Civil Rights Act
Legal scholars, political leaders and witnesses of the Jim Crow era painted a dark picture Wednesday of what life was like in racially segregated Richmond between the 1930s and early 1960s.
“During those times, the blacks were treated as second-class citizens; there were two worlds in Richmond — black and white, and the two worlds never did meet,” said Dr. William Ferguson Reid, the first black member of the Virginia House of Delegates in the 20th Century.
Reid, who is 89 and retired, was one of the panelists at a commemoration of the anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law 50 years ago. The event was hosted by the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Commission, chaired by retiring Sen. Henry L. Marsh III, D-Richmond.
Reid told the audience at the Library of Virginia that as a young black man, he always had to be on the lookout to not make any mistakes that could be misinterpreted by racist whites.
“In the street cars, you had to move to the back when somebody white came aboard. Conductors could arrest you if you made a complaint, and they carried pistols. Very few of us had the nerve to not comply at the time,” he said.
At the train station, a ticket seller would cater to white passengers first, even if that meant black travelers would miss their train. “That might not mean so much, but that was very humiliating to know that just because you were black, you had to wait until someone else was taken care of,” Reid said.
John T. Kneebone, chair of the Department of History at Virginia Commonwealth University, said that Jim Crow in essence stood for the white supremacy system of first and second class citizenship, which was enforced by violence and affected work, commerce, politics and travel.
“It could not be avoided,” he said.
Black and white kids got their lesson of Jim Crow before they learned their ABCs, Kneebone said.
“And once you start segregating, there is no logical place to stop. There were courthouses that had separate Bibles for people to swear on.”
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 brought down the Jim Crow signs that were a common sight all over Virginia. “The Act made non-discrimination, for the fist time in our history, the norm,” Kneebone said.
Henry L. Chambers Jr., a civil rights scholar at the University of Richmond, said that the Civil Rights Act was “a call to action to change our national mindset” that 50 years ago sent a message “that segregation would henceforth be unlawful.”
And U.S. Senator Timothy M. Kaine, D-Va., said the landmark legislation was an important step on the path to equality that has not yet ended and continues to take on new meaning with each generation.
“Equality has been a slowly dawning realization for every generation of Americans,” Kaine said. “The principle just sits out there like the North Star. And there are these moments when society looks in the mirror and gasps and says, ‘We are not living up to our principles.’”
“Our grandchildren,” Kaine said, “will realize things where they need to advance society further.”
Other speakers included Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, D-3rd, and Lauranett L. Lee, curator of African American History with the Virginia Historical Society.
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