The Virgil Darnell Hawkins Collection: A Special Collection at the Heart of An HBCU Law School

Abstract

The Florida A&M University College of Law has several special collections, but the most significant of those special collections is one that is on the fourth floor of the law library. When you look at it you will see several ranges of books that are outdated. They include case reporters, statutes, secondary sources and other legal materials that are no older than the 1960s. This collection, frozen in time, is named in honor of Virgil Darnell Hawkins, an African-American who, while little known, was critical to the creation of the Florida A&M University College of Law and had an impact on African American access to higher education in the state of Florida, as well as on the civil rights movement in the United States nationally.