In 1958, at age 16, McQueen was the principal plaintiff in a successful lawsuit to integrate Charlottesville City Schools. Despite her victory, McQueen spent her senior year sequestered from her peers and was never awarded a true diploma.
An early 1959 Virginia Supreme Court ruling overturning Massive Resistance would have allowed McQueen to attend the previously all-white Lane High School.
The School Board, however, had other ideas. McQueen was barred from Lane, and spent her senior year being tutored in the School Board office.
Albemarle County Public Schools Superintendent Pamela Moran, and Charlottesville City Schools Superintendent Rosa Atkins awarded McQueen her diploma in a ceremony at what is now Burley Middle School. When McQueen was a student, Burley served as the black high school for both county and city students. It is now an Albemarle County school.
