Allen v. County School Board of Prince Edward County was a federal civil rights case filed in the early 1960s by African American students and their families who had been denied education as a result of Prince Edward County’s decision to close its public schools in 1959 rather than comply with desegregation orders. This case was one of several legal actions that challenged the constitutionality of the county’s refusal to operate a public school system while using public funds to support private, segregated academies for white students.
While the district court and subsequently the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals acknowledged the dire situation facing Black students, they ruled against the plaintiffs…
Filed in 1961 and brought by J. Samuel Allen and others on behalf of their children, the suit was pursued by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, with prominent civil rights attorneys such as Oliver Hill, Spottswood Robinson, and Jack Greenberg leading the legal strategy. The plaintiffs argued that the absence of a public school system—and the racially discriminatory way in which education was being privately provided—violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
While the district court and subsequently the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals acknowledged the dire situation facing Black students, they ruled against the plaintiffs, stating that Virginia law did not require local governments to operate public schools, and that the county’s actions—while morally troubling—did not meet the legal standard for unconstitutional behavior. These decisions reflected a narrow interpretation of “state action” and left thousands of Black children in Prince Edward County without formal education for a fifth consecutive year.
The Allen case laid essential groundwork for the subsequent Supreme Court case Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County (1964). The failure of the courts to intervene decisively in Allen helped build pressure for a stronger legal response, ultimately leading to Griffin, in which the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Prince Edward County’s actions were unconstitutional and ordered the immediate reopening of public schools. Thus, Allen v. County School Board served as both a critical legal challenge and a stepping stone toward the definitive federal resolution of the school crisis.