Ridgefield Allies

Today in “Hidden” History is a daily listing of important but little-known events illustrating the range of innovators, contributors, or incidents excluded from formal history lessons or common knowledge. Hidden history is intended not as an exhaustive review, but merely as an illustration of how popular narratives "hide" many matters of fundamental importance. Bookmark this page and check daily to quickly expand your knowledge. Suggest entries for Today in “Hidden” History by clicking the Contact Us link. Entries for June 26:

Date	Type	Event
1844		The legislative committee of the territory then known as “Oregon Country” passed the first of a series of “Black exclusion” laws. The law dictated that free African Americans were prohibited from moving into Oregon Country and those who violated the ban could be whipped “not less than twenty nor more than thirty-nine stripes." Between 1840 and 1860, in the midst of this exclusion and discrimination, African Americans never constituted more than 1% of the population in the American Pacific Northwest. Oregon, which joined the Union as a "free state" on February 14, 1859, stands as a clear illustration that racial discrimination and oppression against Black people was widespread in jurisdictions where slavery was illegal. As of 2018, the U.S. census bureau estimated that less than 3% of Oregon residents were African American. Learn more.
1934		W.E.B. Du Bois, co-founder and first leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ("NAACP") resigns from the NAACP board because of his new advocacy of an African-American nationalist strategy. The strategy was to be implemented in African-American controlled institutions, schools, and economic cooperatives. This approach opposed the NAACP’s commitment to integration. However, Du Bois returned to the NAACP as director of special research from 1944 to 1948. During this period he was active in placing the grievances of African-Americans before the United Nations, serving as a consultant to the UN founding convention (1945) and writing the famous “An Appeal to the World” (1947). Learn more.
1959		The Prince Edward County, Virginia, Board of Supervisors shuts down the county's public school system in order to prevent integration. Whites had been threatening for five years (since the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education outlawing segregation in public schools) that they were perfectly willing to close county schools to avoid integration. For five long years, nearly 3,000 Black students had no public schools. Because of limited means, most were unable to attend any schools. Meanwhile, white students attended the new private school Prince Edward Academy. In the beginning, local legislators used public school funds for the private school, but that was quickly outlawed. To get around the law Prince Edward County changed its tax laws so now locals paid almost nothing on property taxes so they could afford the cost of the private school for their students. In 1961, newly-inaugurated President Kennedy took up the cause, initiating court cases to force reopening of public schools. While the cases were pending, the Kennedy Administration initiated the establishment of the Free Schools Association to serve the disadvantaged students of the county, funded by donations from across the country and staffed by teachers from across the country; the Free Schools opened in fall 1963, welcoming 1,578 students, including four white students. Finally, on May 25, 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court in Griffin v. School Board of Prince Edward County ruled that the county had violated the rights of students to an education and ordered the Prince Edward County schools to reopen. And in the fall of 1964, they did. Learn more.