Morgan v. Virginia

Irene Morgan's resistance to segregation led to an important court case. On 16 July 1944, she refused to give up her seat on a Greyhound bus to a white passenger. After a struggle with Middlesex County sheriffs, she was arrested. Convicted by the state, she appealed all the way to the United States Supreme Court with the help of Spottswood W. Robinson III and Thurgood Marshall, among others. In a landmark decision in 1946, the Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to enforce segregation laws on interstate carriers. This decision helped set precedent for the later battles the NAACP waged against segregation.

Saluda, Virginia · United States