Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

Because the library is not open to the general public, researchers should contact the library to arrange access to the collection.

Preferred Citation

Oral History Interview of Allen L. Lucy, Clerk (retired), of the Supreme Court of Virginia, June 11, 2009, Accession number 00021358, Supreme Court of Virginia Archives, Virginia State Law Library, Richmond, Va.

Acquisition Information

The interview was created by the Supreme Court of Virginia Historical Commission and transferred to the State Law Library in 2009.

Biographical/Historical Information

The Supreme Court of Virginia Historical Commission was established in 2006 to preserve and promote the history of the court. Oral history interviews of retired Supreme Court justices, Court of Appeals judges, other individuals associated with the court, and civil rights attorneys were begun in 2007. The project is ongoing.

Allen L. Lucy (b. 1917) was Deputy Clerk of the Supreme Court of Virginia from 1952 to 1977 and Clerk from 1977 to 1984. Before that, he was Deputy Clerk of the city of Richmond Law and Equity Courts. He was born in Richmond, graduated from John Marshall High School in 1935, and from Smithfield-Massey Business College in Richmond 1936.

Scope and Content

Oral history interview of Allen L. Lucy by Cassandra Newby-Alexander, Professor of History, Norfolk State University, at Gloucester House, Gloucester Virginia, June 11, 2009; transcript available. In the interview, Lucy talks about his parents and siblings, growing up in the Barton Heights neighborhood of Richmond in the 1920s and 1930s, meeting his wife, and starting a family. He discusses his education in Richmond public schools, looking for work in Richmond during the Depression, and finding work at the City of Richmond Law and Equity Courts in 1935. He reflects on the atmosphere among the staff working at the Supreme Court of Virginia during the 1950s, when the court was deliberating a large number of civil rights cases, and discusses his thoughts about segregation and integration and his interactions with attorneys on both sides of the issue. He recalls one evening when he worked until the early hours of the morning in order to record a large number of petitions filed by civil rights attorney Oliver Hill. Toward the end of the interview, Lucy talks about the nature of his work as deputy clerk and clerk, his relationships with justices, and the pressures, for both the justices and the staff, of managing the caseload of the court and meeting deadlines. He emphasizes the sense of pride and gratitude he felt for having had the opportunity to work for the court and with the justices.

Index Terms

• Barton Heights (Va.) -- History -- 20th century.
• Civil rights -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
• Clerks of court -- Virginia -- Richmond -- 20th century.
• Hill, Oliver White, 1907-2007.
• Lucy, Allen Linwood, 1917-.
• Newby-Alexander, Cassandra, 1956-.
• Oral histories (document genres)-- Virginia.
• Virginia -- History -- 20th century.
• Virginia -- Politics and government -- 20th century.
• Virginia. Supreme Court -- 20th century.
• Virginia. Supreme Court. Historical Commission.