For our second anniversary, Holly and I took a mini-vacation to Washington, D.C. We got to watch the Reds lose to the Nationals then we hit all the usual stops. The highlight of our trip was, by far, the National Museum of African American History. Every American needs to experience this museum.
One exhibit displayed significant moments in each state’s civil rights history. Naturally, I looked for West Virginia. Here is what I found:
“‘White and colored persons shall not be taught in the same school,’ according to the state constitution Article XII, Section 8. Repealed in November 1994.”
Repealed in 1994? There’s no way. Surely there’s more to the story. I mean it had to be a situation where federal law trumped state law, so for whatever reason they never prioritized the repeal of state law. It had to be an oversight. Right?
Last week I spent some time researching civil rights history in Charleston and stumbled upon this article. I could not believe what I read. There was, in fact, more to the story. But it raised more questions than answers. Here’s what I found:
Brown vs. Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court case that outlawed segregation in public schools, rendered that clause moot for the last 40 years of its existence, but it was not removed until 1994. And even then, 42 percent of West Virginia voters and 16 counties (Barbour, Braxton, Clay, Doddridge, Gilmer, Lincoln, Mason, Mingo, Monroe, Pocahontas, Raleigh, Randolph, Ritchie, Roane, Summers and Tucker) voted to keep the clause in the state constitution.
David Gutman, WV Gazette Mail, June 30, 2014
Staring at my computer screen in an empty church, I once again said aloud: there’s no way. [If I am missing relevant details, I will update this post. But I assume I’d just hear the same sorts of excuses (states rights, remembering “history,” etc.) I hear today.]
West Virginians had an opportunity to raise our collective voice for justice and equality in a very simple, straightforward way. And just 26 years ago, 42% of our citizens chose not to – citizens who work in West Virginia businesses, teach in West Virginia schools, and attend West Virginia churches.
But there’s no way race is a problem today… Right?
