In the wake of the 70th anniversary of Supreme Court decisions Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe, the D.C. Public Library said it plans to digitize the papers of the late former D.C. Council member Julius Hobson, who played a role in the District’s school desegregation effort.
The digitization project is a product of a DCPL and Community Webs grant partnership. The National Endowment for the Humanities also supports the grant.
Hobson, a prominent Black civil rights leader, sued the D.C. Board of Education because of the desegregation decisions. He argued that despite the rulings, the use of a discriminatory track system, optional zones and unequal resources showed racial and economic discrimination.
The court ruled in Hobson’s favor, mandating changes to ensure Black students had a quality education. Hobson became known throughout the District as opposing police brutality and fighting the construction of freeways through Black neighborhoods.
Hobson also founded what is known as the D.C. Statehood Green Party and ran against the Rev. Walter Fauntroy for the position of District delegate to the U.S. Congress in 1971. When the Home Rule Act was approved by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Nixon in 1973, Hobson dismissed the law granting the District limited self-governance as “Home Fool.”
The Hobson papers include letters, meeting records, public announcements, legal documents, and photos throughout his lifetime activism. The Hobson collection will be housed on Dig DC, the Library’s web portal for digitized special collections items.
To learn more, go to https://digdc.dclibrary.org.