Statement of Significance (as of designation - May 4, 1987):
Here, in 1878, Judge J.D. Coles excluded Black citizens from serving as grand and petit jurors in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Arrested and charged with a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, Judge Coles filed a petition with the United States Supreme Court, asking that he be released and that all charges be dropped. The Supreme Court held that his action had been a clear violation of the law and denied his petition for release. The Supreme Court's ruling in EX PARTE VIRGINIA (1878) demonstrated that as a result of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, the Federal government had a qualified but potentially effective power to protect the rights of all American citizens and represents one of the few victories for Blacks in the Federal courts in the generation after 1865.