Oliver White Hill Sr.

Portrait Courtesy of Meredith Carrington and Barry O'Keefe

OLIVER HILL DRIVE
Marshall Street from 2nd Street to 3rd Street 

Oliver White Hill Sr. was born on May 1, 1907 in Richmond, Virginia before relocating to Roanoke, Virginia during his early childhood. He relocated to Washington, D.C. in his later childhood where he graduated from Dunbar High School before attending Howard University. In 1933, he earned a juris doctorate from Howard University School of Law – where he met classmate and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. The following year, he wed Beresenia Ann Walker, also a Richmond native. In this same year, he joined the Virginia State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and soon returned to Richmond where he tried several cases, such as Alston v. School Board of Cityof Norfolk, Morgan v. Virginia, Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward – and most notably Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. He would forge a local legacy with the Law Offices of Hill, Tucker, and Robinson, as well as Hill, Tucker, andMarsh – before becoming the first Black resident elected to the Richmond City Council in the 20th century in 1948. In 1999, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom – followed by the naming of the Virginia State Library and Richmond Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courthouse in his honor. He departed on August 5, 2007 at the age of 100 and is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery.