Seeking to Clear the Charges 80 Years After Library Arrests

Serving Alexandria, VA, as mayor since 2019, Justin Wilson had the idea of investigating whether the charges against the five young protestors who participated in the August 21, 1939, sit-in were ever dropped. Wilson also played an integral role in the event that commemorated the 80th anniversary of the sit-in.

We talked with Wilson on June 3, 2022, in the Alexandria City Council chambers at city hall. In our interview, he explained the impact that the legacy of the sit-in has had on him and on Alexandria and talked about his hopes for the future. The conversation below, on video and as a transcript, is an excerpt of a longer interview and has been edited for clarity.

Take us back to the fall 2019 and the commemorative 80th anniversary event. Where did the idea come from to investigate whether the charges against these five men were ever dropped?

Yeah, you know, I think I had had some conversations with Rose [Rose Dawson, the director of the Alexandria Library] about the events and just how excited they were to be a part of this. They had done a 75th anniversary event previously and were looking to really up their game for the 80th. We were just kind of talking about what they had planned. And Rose was very excited that the descendants [of the five sit-in participants] were going to be involved. And as I recall, I was doing research, just looking back at the story, understanding some of the history…. And I remember reading this account that was written and it talked about how the prosecutor didn't pursue the charges and that there wasn't a disposition of any kind. And, you know, the message I got from the history was really that there was, it was almost like [there was a feeling of] shame in bringing the charges, and that the justice system just decided to prevent or ignore that they ever happened. And so I got to thinking I was like, wow, I wonder if they were ever really dropped and if there was a formal process.

And I'm not a lawyer, certainly not a prosecutor, and so I call Bryan [Bryan Porter, the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Alexandria] and ask…. And when I checked in with him a couple of weeks later, he said, Well, you know, I've done a little research, I can't find anything. I can't find any disposition of these charges. So they're very likely still just kind of out there. And I said, well, you know, is there, can you formally drop them? And he's like, let me check with the judge and see what she thinks. And so he came back a couple days later, and he said, "you know, I had a conversation and I think she's willing to do something here."

And so then it kind of started rolling. And I talked to Rose, and I said this is what Bryan said and she was very excited. And we decided to tie it together with this event that they were doing for the descendants. And I remember, I was looking back in my email last night in preparation for this conversation, and I remember when they sent out the notice for the event, and I sent it to Bryan, I said here's your deadline. [laughter] Now you got to get it done by this day. And he did.

He worked with the judge in the clerk's office and got the order done.

And you know, and I remember reading that order and you know, I'm not, perhaps to my detriment, I'm not generally a politician who likes the performative acts and things that I think are not as tied to policies. But I have come to appreciate that there is a value in the symbolic and that oftentimes the symbolic ties together with the more substantive. And I think watching that night the reactions of the descendants — and seeing it tie together with their memories of what their family members had done on that day was really powerful to me. And I know a lot of other people who were in that room and who watched that had a similar reaction. They walked away with kind of a better understanding of our history, and an appreciation that, certainly we are not able to change that history, but at least a feeling that today, on that day in 2019, we were able to at least push a wrong back in a better direction. And so that was powerful.

What does the story of the sit-in tell us about our past?

Yeah, well, you know, I think I would say to answer that question that you gotta read that letter that Samuel Tucker wrote. [Samuel W. Tucker is the lawyer who organized the sit-in with his brother Otto and represented the five sit-in participants.] Because initially to try to mollify him, [the city officials] had said, Oh, well, we'll give you library cards at this “separate but equal” library [Nine months after the sit-in, the city opened what was then called “the colored library.”]

And Samuel Tucker writes this letter in his 20s—he is a brand new lawyer—he writes this letter saying, basically, no, not that's not going to be acceptable. And he is citing the inequity in the provision of those resources. And I think that what it teaches us about today is: we are still dealing today with inequities in our community in the way resources are allocated, the results, the disparate impact of city policies in housing and education in the criminal justice system, wealth attainment, health, and those persist today. And the decisions we make on this dais are oftentimes attempts to try to ameliorate some of those inequities.

We are still dealing... with inequities in our community in the way resources are allocated... the disparate impact of city policies in housing and education in the criminal justice system, wealth attainment, health, and those persist today.

And so, I think, you know, we look back at 83 years ago now and say like, okay, these were the inequities we're dealing with, in one set of city services, the provision of library services. You know, those same inequities that they were sitting in to change exist today. Now we don't have the de jure legal barriers that exist for access to these city services, but we might as well for the way that some of these inequities exist in a lot of different areas today. And so, I think for us, that's kind of the clarion call for us. It's looking at how we take, you know, what, what they were doing 80 years ago, which was really, really groundbreaking.

And I think that for me, that's always the part that I feel is most amazing about this story. Everyone's like, oh, yeah, this was in the 1960s, right? I was like, no, no, this is 1939. And I think that's what I don't think most people realize is how groundbreaking this was, this kind of activism, this shining of a light exactly on the inequities and the bravery associated with that.

And even today, you know, picking apart these inequities that exist in our community requires a heck of a lot of bravery and courage, and it's unfortunate even in a community like Alexandria, that it requires that. But I mean, look at any debate around the provision of resources or policy decisions that address inequities, particularly in education and housing, and certainly in the criminal justice system, and they are hotly controversial issues in the community.

And even today, picking apart these inequities that exist in our community requires a heck of a lot of bravery and courage.

You know, I think that if you ask people today — if you showed them that mirror and you looked at ‘39 and looked at the experience there and you looked at people in 2022, who are involved in these debates and said, look, they wouldn't see themselves in that. But I'm sure that people in 1939 also wouldn't see themselves, didn't see themselves, that way, in the way they were approaching those decisions. And, and, you know, we're all guilty of that. I'm sure there's a lot of things that I advocate for today that I look back at 80 years from now and say, Well, gosh, what the heck was I thinking? But that's the lesson we can draw on. And we'll continue to draw from it.

Tell us about your own personal reaction when you first heard about the sit-in, as a biracial man with black father and a white mother, how did that play a role?

I mean, I think my initial reaction, whenever I understand the story and read about the story and kind of peel apart other parts of the history, is less about my background, my racial background, and more about age. I always marvel at how young everyone involved the a situation was, and what courage was required when they were that young. Not just the five who actually did this sit in, but also Samuel Tucker, who, you know, in his mid 20s, is starting his legal career and challenging an entire system that underpinned everything that he knew of. And he would go on to incredible successes in the courts in really killing Jim Crow.

But I just marvel at that and think about, you know, I mean, these were kids who were not much older than my son. And I think about what their parents must have thought, you know, what are you doing? It’s that personal courage that was required, that for me is what always sticks out. And then you know as someone who kind of grew up literally in the middle of all of this, literally in the middle of it… with a dad that's Black and a mother that's White. I never thought of my existence as being activism, if you will, but obviously some people would see it that way. You know, it was just who I am and my family. But with this story, it's just the courage of it all—that is what always stuck with me… It does kind of challenge us to up our game in a variety of different ways.

Anything else on your mind as you think about this sit-in and the commemorative event?

The other thing that I was always struck by is how many people reached out afterward and were either there, heard about or saw it, and were really, really impacted. And I think it helped me understand the power of those kinds of gestures. It’s not "repairing," that is probably the wrong word, but it shows how they impact people in their perception of both history but also the present. So many folks sent me emails and notes and came up to me and said, you know, that was really powerful, I'm glad Bryan [Porter] did that, that moment when he handed those petitions to the family members …. As I rewatch that, I can imagine now those documents hanging on some family wall somewhere in family homes, and that's really powerful.