Taking Action: E. Leslie Hamm, Jr.
"Out of integration of schools here in Arlington, many of us have gone on to do great things. We are proud to have done the things we've done."
Edward Leslie Hamm, Jr., 2019
State of Change
Arlington, Virginia. September 5, 1957. Eleven-year-old E. Leslie Hamm, Jr. and two other African Americans tried to enroll at this school, then known as Stratford Junior High. As reporters snapped photos, the school's principal turned the children away. Young Hamm was also named to a 1956 suit filed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) that called for desegregation of Arlington's public schools.
Hamm's parents, E. Leslie and Dorothy M. Hamm, were among the many local activists challenging Virginia's refusal to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 anti-segregation ruling. White leaders called their rejection of the ruling "massive resistance," vowing to use any means possible to continue segregated schools.
Stopping Massive Resistance
On January 23, 1959, the Virginia Supreme Court announced a ruling in the case filed on behalf of Hamm and other local children; Arlington schools must desegregated. It was the beginning of the end for Virginia's "massive resistance" against desegregation.
[Captions:]
Accompanied
this page online
The Virginia Supreme Court finally began to hear the Arlington case in the late summer of 1958. The 30 children from North and South Arlington who were named in the suit posed on the Alexandria courthouse steps after hearings on September 3. Hamm is in the second row, far right. The Virginia NAACP also filed suits against school boards in Front Royal, Newport News, Norfolk, Charlottesville, and Warren County.
Erected 2021 by Arlington Public Schools, Arlington County Government, and the local community to commemorate the 1959 desegregation event.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Civil Rights • Education. A significant historical date for this entry is January 23, 1959.
Location. 38° 53.956′ N, 77° 6.726′ W. Marker is in Arlington, Virginia, in Arlington County. It is in Cherrydale. It can be reached from Vacation Lane 0.1 miles south of 23rd Street North, on the right when traveling east. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 2162 N Stafford St, Arlington VA 22207, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the Washington Metropolitan Area and in Northern Virginia. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Upper South, and in the Mid-Atlantic. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking
Credits. This page was last revised on February 1, 2023. It was originally submitted on June 15, 2021, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 515 times since then and 32 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on June 15, 2021, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.
