CONTENT WARNING
Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; and gender and sexual orientation.
Context
After the U.S. Supreme Court determined in 1896 that “separate but equal” was not unconstitutional in Plessy v. Ferguson, southern state legislatures passed a flurry of segregation laws. In truth, Virginia had already begun codifying segregation in 1870 when it segregated public schools. The General Assembly passed a series of laws between 1900 and 1906 segregating all public transportation in response to Black citizens protesting local segregation ordinances. And in 1926, the General Assembly passed the sweeping Public Assemblages Act to segregate all remaining public spaces, including movie theatres, opera houses, and any places of public assembly.
The origins of the Public Assemblages Act of 1926 exemplify the influence of political elites and members of the Anglo-Saxon Clubs within Virginia. The bill was introduced in response to one white woman’s experience at a performance held at Hampton Institute. Grace Copeland, wife of newspaper editor Walter Scott Copeland, chose to attend a dance troupe’s performance at the private Black college Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in February 1925. She arrived late after the seats reserved for white audience members were full and she was incensed at being seated with Black people. The Copelands wrote the governor to complain, and Walter Copeland wrote editorials in his Newport News newspapers decrying the institution’s color-blind seating process. The governor’s tepid response that he would look into the matter but that there were no grounds for a formal investigation spurred Copeland and his supporters—primarily members of the white supremacist Anglo-Saxon Club—to demand a new law requiring segregation in all public spaces. Delegate George A. Massenburg, of Elizabeth City County and Hampton, introduced the bill in the House of Delegates.
Some organizations did not support the bill, including the Virginia Baptist Association, which opposed the forced segregation of Asian missionary students. Both houses of the General Assembly overwhelmingly approved the bill. Governor Harry F. Byrd allowed the act to become law on March 22, 1926, without signing it. Operators of any public venue who did not "separate the white race and the colored race" could be charged with a misdemeanor and face fines between $100 and $500 per offense. The law to prevent racially integrated public spaces was one of the toughest in the country.
In response, Hampton Institute closed all of its performances to everyone but invited guests. This article in the Southern Workman, published monthy by Hampton, printed the law and explained the school's new policy.
Citation: "The Massenburg Bill," Southern Workman, 55 (June 1926): 242-243, Library of Virginia. Read online in Virginia Chronicle: https://www.virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=SWM19260601.1.4
Learn more about Walter Scott Copeland in the Dictionary of Virginia Biography online at Encyclopedia Virginia.
The origins of the Public Assemblages Act of 1926 exemplify the influence of political elites and members of the Anglo-Saxon Clubs within Virginia. The bill was introduced in response to one white woman’s experience at a performance held at Hampton Institute. Grace Copeland, wife of newspaper editor Walter Scott Copeland, chose to attend a dance troupe’s performance at the private Black college Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in February 1925. She arrived late after the seats reserved for white audience members were full and she was incensed at being seated with Black people. The Copelands wrote the governor to complain, and Walter Copeland wrote editorials in his Newport News newspapers decrying the institution’s color-blind seating process. The governor’s tepid response that he would look into the matter but that there were no grounds for a formal investigation spurred Copeland and his supporters—primarily members of the white supremacist Anglo-Saxon Club—to demand a new law requiring segregation in all public spaces. Delegate George A. Massenburg, of Elizabeth City County and Hampton, introduced the bill in the House of Delegates.
Some organizations did not support the bill, including the Virginia Baptist Association, which opposed the forced segregation of Asian missionary students. Both houses of the General Assembly overwhelmingly approved the bill. Governor Harry F. Byrd allowed the act to become law on March 22, 1926, without signing it. Operators of any public venue who did not "separate the white race and the colored race" could be charged with a misdemeanor and face fines between $100 and $500 per offense. The law to prevent racially integrated public spaces was one of the toughest in the country.
In response, Hampton Institute closed all of its performances to everyone but invited guests. This article in the Southern Workman, published monthy by Hampton, printed the law and explained the school's new policy.
Citation: "The Massenburg Bill," Southern Workman, 55 (June 1926): 242-243, Library of Virginia. Read online in Virginia Chronicle: https://www.virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=SWM19260601.1.4
Learn more about Walter Scott Copeland in the Dictionary of Virginia Biography online at Encyclopedia Virginia.
Standards
VUS.10, USII.5, USII.3, VS.8, GOVT.10, GOVT.11
Suggested Questions
Preview Activity
Listicle: Make a list of four things you know about segregation in the early twentieth century South, and what this tells you about how life would have been like living under these laws.
Post Activities
Virginia Validation: Some white-dominated organizations, such as the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, that supported racial segregation did not support passage of the Public Assemblages Act. Consider about how Virginia tried to position itself as a state primed for business investment, and how it tried to differentiate itself from states in the deep-South. Why do you think these groups specifically may have not wanted to pass the law?
Analyze: Read the reaction of Hampton Institute to the passage of this law that was directed at their practices. What do you think of their new policy? How did it circumvent the law in certain ways?
Listicle: Make a list of four things you know about segregation in the early twentieth century South, and what this tells you about how life would have been like living under these laws.
Post Activities
Virginia Validation: Some white-dominated organizations, such as the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, that supported racial segregation did not support passage of the Public Assemblages Act. Consider about how Virginia tried to position itself as a state primed for business investment, and how it tried to differentiate itself from states in the deep-South. Why do you think these groups specifically may have not wanted to pass the law?
Analyze: Read the reaction of Hampton Institute to the passage of this law that was directed at their practices. What do you think of their new policy? How did it circumvent the law in certain ways?