Law and Race Commons^™

Virgil Hawkins: Educator & Civil Rights Activist, Hardaway Law Firm, Virgil Hawkins Historical Society, Virgil Hawkins Bar Association Of Polk County, Black Filmmakers Of Central Florida, Kathleen High School Video And Tv Production Team, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Mu Zeta Lambda Chapter

Oral Histories, Presentations, and Videos

Virgil Darnell Hawkins was an African-American trailblazer. Through and by way of his unrelenting effort to become a Florida lawyer, the Jim Crow laws, that once kept Florida's African Americans from attending the white public universities and colleges, were eventually abolished. This paved the way for the end of discrimination in Florida's schools of higher learning and opened the way for African Americans to attend state universities and colleges.

This program and presentation honor Mr. Virgil Darnell Hawkins.

Updating Resources

Research in Virgil Hawkins' World of Print--Historical Print Research Project No. 1: Abortion

To ensure the student was relying on good case law, they would use Shepard’s Florida Citations to determine whether Eggart v. State had received any negative treatment by subsequent courts. For example, the case would be reviewed to determine if it had been overruled, superseded, deemed unconstitutional or received any other treatment that would negate or lessen its precedential value. According to the Shepard’s entry, at the time, the case was discussed and followed several times and remained good law.

You can see a scan of the Shepard’s entry for Eggart v. State below. The citation for the Shepard’s volume …

Shepard's Florida Citations

Research in Virgil Hawkins' World of Print--Historical Print Research Project No. 1: Abortion

As a lawyer or law student, any time you cite a case in support of a legal argument, you must check whether its authority has changed as a result of more recent decisions. Before the advent of the Internet, this process was typically done using a print tool called a citator. The principle citator at the time of the original FAMU law school was Shepard’s Citations, an indexing resource developed by Frank Shepard during the 19th century. Citators allow you to determine if your case is still good law and it acts as a research tool to find other cases …

Roe V. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)

Research in Virgil Hawkins' World of Print--Historical Print Research Project No. 1: Abortion

A pregnant single woman brought a class action suit challenging the constitutionality of the Texas criminal abortion laws, which proscribed procuring or attempting an abortion except on medical advice for the purpose of saving the mother's life. The Court held that a woman's right to an abortion fell within the right to privacy protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.

Consult Primary Authorities--Step Three In The Research Process

Research in Virgil Hawkins' World of Print--Historical Print Research Project No. 1: Abortion

The next likely step would have been to look up the statutes and the case that were listed in Florida Law and Practice to find additional information.To find both the statute and corresponding annotations, the student would have used the Florida Statutes Annotated. Since they found the citations for the statute in Florida Law and Practice, there is no need to use the index and the student would go directly to the volume of the set that contained the statute and annotations. At the time, F.S. § 782.10 held that intentionally causing a woman to miscarry would carry …

Conclusion And Fast Forward

Research in Virgil Hawkins' World of Print--Historical Print Research Project No. 1: Abortion

After analyzing statutes and case law information on abortion in Florida, the student could conclude and state that offering to help a woman obtain an abortion was illegal in the 1960’s and, if a miscarriage subsequently occurred due to aid provided, the person who helped obtain the abortion could be convicted of 3rd degree manslaughter.

In 1973, the Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade established that women had the right to seek an abortion and that states had to balance their ability to regulate health against a woman’s health care decision power and the potentiality of human life. 410 …

Research Strategy And Resources

Research in Virgil Hawkins' World of Print--Historical Print Research Project No. 1: Abortion

The first step in any research process is to create a research strategy and organize your plan. The first step in most legal research is the use of secondary sources in order to gain an overview of a legal issue and to find cases and statutes that discuss the topic. A possible source about the state of the law in Florida on the topic of abortion was Florida Law and Practice.

Historical Research Project On Abortion

Research in Virgil Hawkins' World of Print--Historical Print Research Project No. 1: Abortion

This document represents an historical research project, from start to finish, as it would have been accomplished during the time Virgil Hawkins was fighting to gain entry into the University of Florida law school. The student would have used print resources to resolve this legal question regarding abortion, a topic about which the law has changed significantly since the time this research would have been performed.

Secondary Sources--Step One In The Research Process

Research in Virgil Hawkins' World of Print--Historical Print Research Project No. 1: Abortion

The first step in most legal research is to start with secondary sources to gain an overview of a legal issue and to find cases and statutes that discuss the topic. Secondary sources are statements or texts written about the law. A source that was available in the FAMU law library and could have been used to find information about the state of the law in Florida on the topic of abortion was Florida Law and Practice. To find information in Florida Law and Practice, the student would have used the title’s index and looked up the search …

Updating Resources

Research in Virgil Hawkins' World of Print--Historical Print Research Project No. 1: Abortion

In order to be certain the law that forms the basis of a legal argument or theory is current, it is crucial to update your research. Different resources use different methods, but a common method for treatises is the pocket part, an insert at the back of a book that contains information from after the date the book was published. Consequently, after reading the relevant entries in the main text of the treatise, the student would have looked at the pocket part to determine if there were any new cases or statutory changes that applied.

Review Resources--Step Two In The Research Process

Research in Virgil Hawkins' World of Print--Historical Print Research Project No. 1: Abortion

After finding the entry for abortion in the index, the student would then have gone to the volume and page indicated by the index to read the information provided. Studying the information contained in the entries, the student would have taken notes about statutes and cases that would be used to craft a legal analysis. The statutes on point that are listed by the treatise's entry are Florida Statutes § 782.10 and Florida Statutes § 797.01. The entry also names Eggart v. State as a case that discusses when an individual could be charged with a crime for assisting a …

Florida Law And Practice

Research in Virgil Hawkins' World of Print--Historical Print Research Project No. 1: Abortion

This compendium of Florida law is based on State and Federal decisions arising from Florida Statutes. It is an up to the minute encyclopedia of Florida law and procedure, edited by an exceptionally well qualified and experienced group of Florida lawyers and teachers, who have helped make Florida Law. The text is keyed to Florida publications, practice books and Florida digests.

This document contains limited excerpts from Volume One that apply to the research problem.

Western Union Telegram To Mr. Virgil D. Hawkins, Registrar

Documents

During his struggle to gain entry to the University of Florida College of Law, Mr. Hawkins never applied to Florida A & M for law school. Nevertheless, he was notified, by telegram, that his "application for admission" was approved and he was given instructions to register for classes for the fall semester, 1951.

Updating Resources

Research in Virgil Hawkins' World of Print--Historical Print Research Project No. 1: Abortion

Next, the student would check the pocket part to the volume of the Florida Statutes Annotated that they were using for entries on both F.S. § 782.10 and F.S. § 797.01, thereby ensuring that they were seeing the most current information

Florida Statutes Annotated

Research in Virgil Hawkins' World of Print--Historical Print Research Project No. 1: Abortion

The Attorney General of Florida, pursuant to the legislative mandate expressed in the Act approved May 25, 1939, Laws 1939, c. 19140, has prepared a "revision, compilation and consolidation of all the General Statutes of Florida in force, of a permanent nature" which, by Act approved June 6, 1941, Laws 1941, c. 20719, except as otherwise provided therein, was "adopted and enacted as statute law" under the title of Florida Statutes 1941.

Consult Primary Authorities--Step Three In The Research Process--Case Law

Research in Virgil Hawkins' World of Print--Historical Print Research Project No. 1: Abortion

The student would also use case law to learn about Florida’s treatment of abortion laws. To read Eggart v. State, using the citation provided by Florida Law and Practice, the student would have gone to volume 25 of the Southern Reporter and opened it to page 527. From the case, they would learn the history of Florida’s antiabortion statute and how it could be used to convict, of manslaughter, anyone who set out to cause a woman to miscarry. The first page of the Eggart case is to the left; the entire case can be found by scrolling …

The Southern Reporter

Research in Virgil Hawkins' World of Print--Historical Print Research Project No. 1: Abortion

Some states have official and unofficial case reporter systems. When an official reporter exists court rules often require citation to both the official and unofficial reporter. The Southern Reporter is the unofficial, regional, reporter series that reports the decisions of the Supreme Courts in Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, and Mississippi.

Eggart V. State, 40 Fla. 527 (1898)

Research in Virgil Hawkins' World of Print--Historical Print Research Project No. 1: Abortion

This 1898 case addressed the crime of unlawfully administering drugs and other noxious things with the intent to procure a miscarriage.