Editing Hopewell, Virginia (section)

===20th century populace===
As early as its incorporation, Hopewell was a city of industrious migrants. Immigrants from [[Bohemia]] (now the western lands of the Czech Republic),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mariepearson.com/the-bohemians-in-virginia-1880s---1930ish.html|title=The Bohemians in Virginia 1880s - 1930ish|website=Marie Blaha Pearson - A Bohemian Journey|access-date=April 3, 2018}}</ref> [[Italy]], and [[Greece]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://appomattoxcl.archivalweb.com/imageViewer.php?i=1134851&q=greek+immigrants&s=q=greek+immigrants&p=29&r=0|title=Appomattox Regional Library System Historic Newspapers &ndash; Microfilm Image Viewer|website=appomattoxcl.archivalweb.com|access-date=April 3, 2018}}</ref> populated the city, working in factories and opening small businesses. Others migrated from other parts of Virginia and neighboring states of [[North Carolina]] and [[West Virginia]] to work in Hopewell's industries.

As was the case in most southern cities, African Americans in Hopewell were subject to [[Jim Crow]] segregation until the success of the [[Civil Rights Movement]]. The picturesque theater in the middle of town, the [[Beacon Theatre (Hopewell, Virginia)|Beacon Theatre]], only allowed Blacks in the balcony.<ref name="Lee">{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Lauranett |title=Making the American Dream Work: A Cultural History of African Americans in Hopewell, Virginia |publisher=Morgan James Publisher |year=2008 |location=Hampton, VA |author-link=Lauranett Lee}}</ref> In August 1966, the [[Ku Klux Klan]] confronted the Reverend [[Curtis W. Harris|Curtis Harris]] and other Black Hopewell citizens when they attempted to petition the city manager to find an alternate location for a landfill that was going to be opened in the middle of a Black neighborhood.<ref name="Lee"/><ref>Interview with Curtis Harris http://dig.library.vcu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/voices/id/4 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170504132943/http://dig.library.vcu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/voices/id/4 |date=May 4, 2017 }}</ref> Hopewell public schools were desegregated under court order in 1963, following ''Renee Patrice GILLIAM et al v. School Board of the City of Hopewell, Virginia.''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.freelawreporter.org/flr3d/f2d/332/332.F2d.460.9258.html|title=332 F.2d 460 - Renee Patrice GILLIAM and Reuben Lemuel Gilliam, Jr., infants, by Reuben L. Gilliam and Joy T. Gilliam, their father and mother and next friends, et al., Appellees, v. SCHOOL BOARD OF the CITY OF HOPEWELL, VIRGINIA, and Charles W. Smith, Division Superintendent of Schools of the City of Hopewell, Virginia, and E. J. Oglesby, Alfred L. Wingo and E. T. Justis, constituting the Pupil Placement Board of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Appellants.|website=www.freelawreporter.org|access-date=April 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180404073413/http://www.freelawreporter.org/flr3d/f2d/332/332.F2d.460.9258.html|archive-date=April 4, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>