[3][4][5][6] The U.S. Supreme Court had just issued its decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which required desegregation of public schools, but in Virginia the dominant Byrd Organization reacted with Massive Resistance.

Only after both a three-judge federal panel and the Virginia Supreme Court, both on the Lee-Jackson Day state holiday issued decisions declaring those laws unconstitutional did Virginia governor J. Lindsay Almond allow the Norfolk and Arlington public schools to desegregate, in both cases peaceably and pursuant to federal court orders.

[6] Miller began to get involved in politics, joining the Democratic Party, although it had long been dominated statewide by the Byrd Organization.

[2] In 2010, Miller and Louise Lucas succeeded in having Virginia recognize the Nottoway as among the state's remaining Native American tribes.

[9] In 1983, Miller became the first black woman to be elected to the Virginia House of Delegates[11] She won re-election and served two terms (from 1984–88).

The first African-American woman in Virginia to serve in each house, she was consistently re-elected to the Senate (last facing an opponent in 1995) and died in office.

[9][12] Miller most recently represented the 5th state senate district, which since 1971 and a redistricting, has been made up of parts of the independent cities of Norfolk, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.

McDonnell consolidated the academic campuses at correctional centers operated by the state's Division of Juvenile Justice and renamed them in her honor.