title
To designate the 5300 block of Marian Street in honor of the late Bettie Elizabeth Boyers Cooper. (1st District)
body
WHEREAS, upon information and belief of the Council, the late Bettie Elizabeth Boyers Cooper was a New Jersey citizen who grew up in the city of Richmond, graduated from Armstrong High School, was a resident of the Westwood community, and whose employment career included 18 years as a professional seamstress for Jefferson Manufacturing Company and 17 years with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles; and
WHEREAS, upon information and belief of the Council, the most notable accomplishment of Bettie Elizabeth Boyers Cooper, however, was her staunch persistence in pursuing a lawsuit that successfully challenged the racially discriminatory policies of the public school system for the City of Richmond, which mandated that Ms. Cooper's daughter, Daisy Jane, be bused four miles to G. W. Carver Elementary School when the whites-only Westhampton Elementary School was within walking distance of her home; and
WHEREAS, upon information and belief of the Council, Bettie Elizabeth Boyers Cooper was represented by attorneys from the law firm of Hill, Tucker, & Marsh in her case that was ultimately heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which found in 1960 that the racially discriminatory policies complained of were, in fact, unconstitutional and unenforceable; and
WHEREAS, upon information and belief of the Council, in the face of continued resistance, it took another year for the ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to be implemented in the form of an order from the United States District Court that all Black students in the city of Richmond be allowed to go to previously whites-only schools, thus opening the way for Ms. Cooper's daughter, Daisy Jane, age 12, to be the first Black student to take classes at Westhampton Junior High School; and
WHEREAS, upon ...
Click here for full text