HILL, OLIVER WHITE, SR.
Oliver W. Hill is an African–American attorney who was instrumental in the CIVIL RIGHTS struggles of the 1950s and 1960s.
Oliver White Hill Sr. was born May 1, 1907,
in Richmond, Virginia. He received his bachelor
of art degree from Howard University in 1931,
then continued at Howard and received his doc-
tor of JURISPRUDENCE degree in 1933. The fol-
lowing year, he opened a law practice in
Roanoke, Virginia, which he later moved to
Richmond. He became active in such organiza-
tions as the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and
the Urban League as well as the local faction of
the DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Hill served a two-year
stint in the military from 1943 to 1945, then
returned to private practice.
In August 1947, Hill ran for the Virginia
House of Delegates. He lost that election by a
mere 190 votes, missing an opportunity to
become the first African American to occupy a
seat in Virginia’s general assembly since 1890.He
returned to politics the following year, and on
June 10, 1948, he was elected to a seat on Rich-
mond’s city council. With that victory, he
became the first African American elected to
office in Richmond since Reconstruction.
Hill’s election was significant because at least
two thousand of the nine thousand voters who
backed him were white. Such racial crossover
voting was unprecedented at the time, but Hill
had made an effort to appeal to voters from all
races. He shrewdly realized that many whites,
some motivated by moral conviction and others
by simple pragmatism, understood that change
was imminent in the South. The treatment of
African–American soldiers during WORLD WAR
II had forced harsh scrutiny on a system that was
coming to an end. “There is rising in the South a
large body of white citizens who recognize the
importance of extending constitutional guaran-
tees to Negroes in order to strengthen their own
economic and political security,” he said.
During his stint on the Richmond council,
Hill was voted the second-most-effective mem-
ber of the nine-member body. But his triumph
was short-lived: in 1950, he lost his bid for
reelection. Later, he was a popular contender for
appointment to a vacancy on the council, but
because of his uncompromising position on
civil rights, he was denied the appointment.
African–American leaders in Richmond were
angered by the rejection, and much of the racial
tension that had characterized Richmond before
Hill’s 1948 victory was rekindled.
Hill returned to his law practice and joined the
ranks of the pioneers in the fight for civil rights.
During a career that has spanned six decades, he
has been involved in many of the landmark cases
that secured constitutional rights for minorities in
housing, education, and employment. As a mem-
ber of the Richmond Democratic Committee, he
worked diligently to secure minority VOTING
RIGHTS and to encourage involvement in political
activity. From 1940 to 1961, Hill served as chair-
man of the Virginia Legal Commission of the
NAACP and participated in such celebrated legal
battles as BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION, 347
U.S. 483, 74 S. Ct. 686, 98 L. Ed. 873 (1954), abol-
ishing segregated public schools, and Quarles v.
Philip Morris, 279 F. Supp. 505 (ED. Va.), a 1968
case establishing the right of minorities to equal
employment opportunities. In August 1955,
