Calvin Coolidge Green, Th.D., Ed.D., Ph.D. (1931-2011)

WO-41

Dr. Calvin C. Green, civil rights activist, led the movement for school integration in New Kent County. An educator, pastor, Korean War veteran, and later a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, Green chartered the New Kent branch of the NAACP in 1960 and was its president for 16 years. After the county school board denied his petition to desegregate schools, Green worked with other county residents and the state NAACP to file a federal lawsuit in 1965 in the name of Charles C. Green, his youngest son. On 27 May 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Green v. New Kent Co. that localities must swiftly integrate public schools, leading to a decline in school segregation across the U.S.

Department of Historic Resources, 2020

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Charles C. Green et al. v. County School Board of New Kent County, Virginia commemorative booklet (rev. 2019). Pupil Placement Board applications (1965), Library of Virginia. Richmond Times-Dispatch, 24 Feb. 1985, 18 Feb. 2011. Washington Post, 21 Aug. 1968, 23 Aug. 1969. Brian J. Daugherity, Keep on Keeping On: The NAACP and the Implementation of Brown v. Board of Education in Virginia (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2016). Brian J. Daugherity, “Calvin Coolidge Green,” African American National Biography New Kent High School yearbooks, 1965-1970. New Kent School and George W. Watkins School, National Historic Landmark nomination (2001). https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/391/430 https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/05/the-radical-supreme-court-decision-that-america-forgot/561410/