On January 19, 1959, Senator Harry F. Byrd’s policy of statewide “massive resistance” was outlawed by the Virginia Supreme Court. On February 2, 1959, Ronald Deskins, Michael Jones, Lance Newman, and Gloria Thompson were enrolled in Stratford Junior High. Hamm’s sons entered Stratford later that year.

In 1960, Hamm was a plaintiff in a court action to eliminate the pupil placement form, which was used to exclusively assign African-American students to certain schools to get around the Supreme Court’s ruling on desegregation. In 1961, Hamm was a plaintiff in a court action to integrate the athletic program of the Arlington Public Schools. Hamm’s son had been barred from participating in Stratford’s wrestling program because of the physical contact between Black and white students. As a result of the court action, discrimination in Arlington athletic programs was declared to be illegal.

In 1963, Hamm was the plaintiff in a civil action case to eliminate the poll tax and remove the race designation from public forms and voting records in Arlington County. The same year, she initiated legal action and helped to organize picketing efforts in protest of segregation of Arlington’s theaters. Along with four other protesters, Hamm was arrested for picketing at the Glebe Theater. Their efforts were ultimately successful, and Hamm and her son Edward Leslie, Jr., became the first African-American customers to be admitted to the theater.