Massive resistance facts for kids

Massive resistance was a plan created by U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd Sr. of Virginia. His goal was to get Virginia's white politicians to pass laws that would stop public schools from desegregating. This plan came about after the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, which said that segregated schools were illegal.

In 1958 and 1959, many schools, and even a whole school system, were shut down in Virginia. This was an attempt to block schools from integrating black and white students. However, both the Virginia Supreme Court and a special group of federal judges declared these policies unconstitutional.

Even though most of the laws for massive resistance were quickly overturned, some efforts to prevent integrated public schools continued in Virginia for many years.

Virginia's Segregation History

After the Reconstruction period ended in 1877, conservative Democrats in Virginia worked to keep racial segregation in place. They used laws known as Jim Crow laws. To ensure white supremacy, Virginia adopted a new constitution in 1902. This constitution made it very hard for African Americans to vote. It also required separate schools for black and white students.

In the early 1900s, Harry Flood Byrd led a powerful political group called the Byrd Organization. This group controlled Virginia politics for many decades. They continued the legacy of segregation. The Byrd Organization was strongest in rural areas of the state.

However, black lawyers like Thurgood Marshall and Oliver W. Hill began challenging segregation laws in court. They slowly started winning civil rights cases. One important case was Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County. This case was started by students protesting poor conditions at their black high school in Farmville, Virginia.

Their case became part of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in 1954. This decision said that separate public schools for black and white students were unequal and illegal. It ruled that legal racial segregation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This decision opened the way for desegregation and the Civil Rights Movement.

The Gray Commission's Plan

Just over a month after the Brown decision, Senator Byrd promised to stop school integration in Virginia. Governor Thomas B. Stanley, a member of the Byrd Organization, then formed a group called the Commission on Public Education. This group, led by Senator Garland Gray, became known as the Gray Commission.

In November 1955, the Gray Commission suggested several laws. These included allowing the state to close schools rather than integrate them. They also proposed creating a system to assign students to schools. Finally, they suggested giving money (vouchers) to parents. These vouchers would help parents send their children to private, segregated schools. Virginia voters approved this plan in January 1956.

Massive Resistance Begins

On February 24, 1956, Senator Byrd officially announced his "massive resistance" campaign. He wanted to prevent public school integration in Virginia. He believed that if Southern states resisted together, the rest of the country would realize that integration would not be accepted in the South. Soon after, Senator Byrd and 100 other Southern politicians signed the "Southern Manifesto". This document criticized the Supreme Court's decisions on integration.

The NAACP then filed lawsuits to end school segregation in Norfolk, Arlington, Charlottesville, and Newport News. To fight these lawsuits, the Byrd Organization-controlled Virginia General Assembly passed a series of laws in 1956. These laws were called the Stanley Plan.

One law said that any integrated school would lose state funding. It also allowed the governor to close such school. Another law created a three-member Pupil Placement Board. This board would decide which school a student would attend, mostly based on race. The laws also created tuition grants. These grants would send money from closed public schools to students. This money would help them attend private, segregated schools, often called "segregation academies".

Schools Close in Virginia

In January 1957, U.S. district judge Walter E. Hoffman ruled that the Pupil Placement Act was unconstitutional. However, this decision was appealed. In November 1957, J. Lindsay Almond, another Byrd Organization member, became governor.

Schools Shut Down

When Governor Almond took office in January 1958, things quickly got worse. Federal courts ordered schools in Warren County, Charlottesville, Norfolk, and Arlington County to integrate. Local and state officials tried to delay school openings.

When schools finally opened late in September, Governor Almond ordered many of them closed. This included Warren County High School, two schools in Charlottesville (Lane High School and Venable Elementary School), and six schools in Norfolk.

In Warren County and Charlottesville, some students found ways to continue their education. Churches and groups like the American Friends Service Committee helped. But in Norfolk, the situation was harder. About one-third of its 10,000 students could not attend any school. Some white families whose children were locked out of Norfolk's closed schools even sued. They argued that their children were not getting equal protection under the law because they had no schools to attend.

Parents Fight Back

Moderate white parents across Virginia formed groups to "Preserve our Schools." They wrote letters and signed petitions. In December 1958, these groups joined together to form the Virginia Committee for Public Schools. Also, 29 important businessmen met with Governor Almond. They told him that massive resistance was hurting Virginia's economy.

On January 19, 1959, a panel of federal judges ordered the closed schools to reopen. On the same day, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that Governor Almond had violated the state constitution by closing schools. This meant the schools had to open.

Soon after, a TV show called The Lost Class of '59 showed the situation in Norfolk to the whole country. Despite efforts by Norfolk's mayor to keep schools closed, the federal judges again ordered them to open.

Charlottesville and Arlington

In Charlottesville, Federal Judge John Paul ordered the Charlottesville School Board to end segregation. Twelve students, known as "The Charlottesville Twelve," were supposed to attend previously all-white schools. The city tried to appeal this order.

In Arlington, the local school board had planned to start integration. However, the state legislature stopped them. The legislature took away Arlington's elected school board and replaced it with an appointed one. This delayed integration for years. Even though most Arlington voters were against the Gray Commission's proposals, the state still pushed massive resistance. Groups like the American Nazi Party and segregationist organizations disrupted school board meetings.

Finally, after the court decisions on January 19, 1959, Arlington integrated its Stratford Junior High School (now called H-B Woodlawn) on February 2, 1959. This was the same day Norfolk integrated its schools. The event, which had been prepared for massively, was proudly called "The Day Nothing Happened" by Arlington's county chairman.

After Massive Resistance

After losing the court cases, Governor Almond changed his position. A new commission, led by Mosby Perrow Jr., suggested accepting limited desegregation. This plan still put the burden on black parents to seek integration. It also kept the Pupil Placement Board to limit desegregation. This plan barely passed, even with opposition from the Byrd Organization.

Prince Edward County's Schools Close

Despite Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County being one of the original Brown v. Board of Education cases, Prince Edward County schools took even longer to desegregate. The county refused to provide money to operate its schools. So, the schools closed on September 1, 1959, rather than integrate. This was the only school district in the country to take such an extreme step.

White students in Prince Edward County used state tuition vouchers to attend private segregation academies. But black students had no schools to attend within the county. The TV show by Edward R. Murrow also highlighted their difficult situation.

Finally, in 1963, Prince Edward's schools were ordered to open. In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, ending all appeals for segregationists. When Prince Edward County's schools opened on September 8, 1964, almost all the students were black. Many black students who had not been able to go to school during the closure were called the "crippled generation."

During the closure, white students attended Prince Edward Academy, which acted as a private school system. Even after public schools reopened, the Academy remained segregated. It eventually lost its tax-exempt status for its discriminatory practices. White students slowly returned to public schools as the Academy's tuition increased. Today, Prince Edward Academy is known as the Fuqua School and accepts black students.

Segregation Academies and "Freedom of Choice"

Public schools in Virginia's western counties, which had smaller black populations, integrated mostly without problems in the early 1960s. By 1963, only about 1.6% of black students in Virginia attended integrated schools.

For example, Warren County High School reopened as an all-black school because no white students enrolled. Their parents sent them to the John S. Mosby Academy, one of many private "segregation academies" opened across the state. Over time, white students gradually returned to Warren County High School.

Multiple school systems tried "Freedom of Choice" plans. These plans allowed families to choose which public school their children would attend. This way, schools could claim to follow court orders, but often remained segregated in practice. However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Green v. County School Board of New Kent County that "Freedom of Choice" plans were unconstitutional if they didn't actually lead to desegregation.

Busing for Integration

In the 1970s, some cities like Richmond and Norfolk were ordered by courts to use busing. This meant students were bused across neighborhoods to integrate schools. However, many white families moved out of the cities or sent their children to private schools to avoid busing.

In Richmond, a judge approved a plan to combine school districts from the city and nearby counties. But a higher court overturned this, saying students could not be bused across city/county lines. Virginia has a unique system where cities are separate from counties. By 1986, Richmond's schools returned to a system of neighborhood schools, ending Virginia's legal battles over segregation. Norfolk also went through busing and later returned to neighborhood school plans.

The Impact of Massive Resistance

Virginia did not have any major incidents that required the National Guard to intervene during this time. In 1969, Virginians elected Republican A. Linwood Holton Jr. as governor. He had opposed massive resistance. The next year, Governor Holton sent his own children (including future Virginia First Lady Anne Holton) to Richmond's mostly African-American public schools, which gained a lot of attention. He also hired more black people and women in state government.

In 2009, the Richmond Times-Dispatch newspaper apologized for its role in supporting massive resistance. They admitted that the newspaper was "complicit" in an "unworthy cause" and that the memories of that time were still painful.

Most segregation academies founded in Virginia during Massive Resistance are still operating today. While they have officially adopted non-discrimination policies and admit non-white students, few black families can afford the high tuition. Their past connection to segregation still causes some tension in communities.

The decision by many white families to leave public schools in rural areas and inner cities after Massive Resistance failed led to more racially and economically separated public schools in Virginia. In 2016, many students, especially black and Hispanic students, attended these isolated schools in cities like Richmond, Norfolk, Petersburg, Roanoke, and Newport News. In contrast, very few white students attended these schools.