Feeling the 1896 U.S. Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson (which upheld the “separate but equal” doctrine that allowed for segregation of Blacks and whites in schools) was unfair, Hill became a lawyer to fight it.
He finally got his chance when he represented Black students unhappy with their separate but decidedly non-equal school. The resulting suit, Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, appealed the appalling conditions in the Black school in Farmville, Va.: The school did not have a gymnasium, cafeteria or teachers’ restrooms. There were no desks nor chalkboards. One class was held in a broken-down school bus parked outside. The school’s requests for additional funds were denied by the all-white school board.
The Davis case was combined with four others from around the country into one, argued before the Supreme Court as Brown v. Board of Education (of Topeka, Kan.) The multiple examples of terrible conditions around the country were convincing: “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” the Supreme court ruled in a 9-0 decision. Racial segregation was unconstitutional, the court said, a major milestone in the civil rights movement. But it took five more years for Virginia to desegregate due to the “Massive Resistance” led by white politicians in the state, and five more years before significant progress was made to actually integrate schools.
But Hill persevered, filing more suits demanding voting rights, employment protections, and other basic rights for minorities, even in the face of death threats. The National Bar Association named Hill “Lawyer of the Year” in 1959, and Bill Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999. “Few individuals in Virginia’s rich history have worked as tirelessly as Oliver Hill to make life better for all of our citizens,” said Virginia’s current governor, Tim Kaine. “His life’s work was predicated on the simple truth that all men and women truly are equal.” Hill died at his son’s home on August 5 at the age of 100.