Locating Slavery's Legacies @ Virginia Military Institute

Memorial Object

Plaque/Marker

Anti-Civil Rights

Fuller, Melville W.

Stone memorializing Melville W. Fuller

The “Walk of Fame” was created in 1929 by then-president Hamilton Holt to honor significant historical figures. The memorial is located in the center of campus around Mills Lawn. The stone honoring Melville W. Fuller (1833-1910) was added between 1929 and 1939. Longtime history professor Alfred J. Hanna and Rollins president Hamilton Holt were involved in the creation of the monument. From Holt's description, “Fred Hanna and I got this stone while passing thru Augusta, Maine. It came from the Fuller home.”

Melville Fuller studied at Bowdoin College in Maine, graduating in 1853. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1855, beginning his legal career in Maine before moving to Chicago, where he gained prominence. His legal expertise and reputation grew, and he became involved in politics. He supported Abraham Lincoln during the 1860 election, particularly Lincoln’s position on limiting the expansion of slavery rather than immediately abolishing it.

In 1888, President Grover Cleveland nominated Fuller to the U.S. Supreme Court. He was confirmed by the Senate and became Chief Justice at the age of 55. His most famous case was the Plessy v. Ferguson case, which upheld racial segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine. The decision supported racial segregation laws (Jim Crow laws) and remained an important decision within the U.S. legal policies until it was overturned by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Despite not writing the majority opinion for the case, Fuller did support the decision for "separate but equal."

Holt, Hamilton

The stone is dark grey and about 9 inches square.

MELVILLE W. FULLER
Augusta Me.

Holt, Hamilton
Hanna, A. J.
The Fuller home

1939

1890-1945: Era of the Lost Cause, Jim Crow legal segregation and discrimination, and organized anti-Black racism

Hamilton Holt

Walk of Fame

Rollins College; Winter Park, Florida

Melville Fuller

Free Speech Center, Middle Tennessee State University, Melville Fuller

Justia, Melville Weston Fuller Court (1888-1910)

The complicated case of Melvin Fuller