Dublin Core
Title
Massive Resistance
Subject
Civil Rights America in Louisa
Description
(Pictured is the A. G. Richardson school for African-American students in Louisa County, Virginia.)
The 1954 the Supreme Court decision known as Brown v. Board of Education overturned the previous “separate but equal†ruling on which a decades of segregated education in the South was based. In a vote of 9 to 0, the Court agreed that the separation violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Though integration was legally ordered, discrimination and hesitation led to a policy known as “massive resistance.â€
Harry Flood Byrd served as Virginia state senator (1915-1925), governor (1926-1930), and as a US Senator (1933-1965). He is known for first using the term “massive resistance†as a policy of resistance to the Brown decision. Byrd was supported by the prevailing attitudes of politicians and white voters in Virginia. As Massive Resistance gained momentum in resisting integration in the public schools; he even pushed to close schools, as many did.
In 1955, only a year after the Brown v. Board of Education verdict, the Gray Commission, named after State Senator Garland Gray, proposed several ideas concerning the integration of public schools. Among these proposals were: that laws concerning school attendance be amended so that no child would be required to attend an integrated school; that funds be allocated as tuition grants for parents who opposed sending their students to a school of both races; that local school boards be authorizes to assign white and African-American students to particular schools.
As these policies plagued the state and nation as a whole, some of the same ideas were documented in Louisa County. The following excerpts come from the Louisa County Board of Supervisors’ minutes.
February 6, 1954: “The Clerk was instructed to write to the Honorable Harold H. Purcell and request that he use his best efforts and influence in regard to the following legislation which is of vital interest to Louisa County: 1. Support enactment of a general sales tax, at the wholesale level, for the state of Virginia. 2. Oppose any legislation which would prevent the separation of white and colored property owners on the land and personal property books of the counties of the State.â€
September 4, 1954: “…for the construction of and additions and improvements to school buildings in Louisa County: Resolution adopted June 6, 1953 authorizing the borrowing of $86,400 for additions to the Louisa County High School; Resolution adopted June 6, 1953 authorizing the borrowing of $63,000 for improvements to the Louisa Elementary School; Resolution adopted June 6, 1953 authorizing the borrowing of $55,000 for the erection of a school building for colored school children in the Ferncliff area.â€
Novemeber 6, 1954: “WHEREAS, it is believed that integration of white and negro students in the public schools of the Commonwealth of Virginia is against the best interests and contrary to the wishes of the great majority of both races, and WHEREAS, it is believed that any system of public education which does not have the approval of the great majority of the parents and taxpayers who support it is destined for failure, and WHEREAS, it is believed that conditions in the various localities of the Commonwealth will differ very widely. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of County Supervisors of Louisa County, Virginia, that a system of free public schools should be maintained which should receive state direction and financial support, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that each county and city should have the right to participate in this system or to abolish its public schools and Section 129 of the Constitution of Virginia should be amended to make this possible, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that each locality which participates in the system should be allowed to choose from several state approved plans that plan best suited to its particular needs, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the compulsory attendance law should be amended to exempt from its operation any child whose parents or legal guardian objects to integration in the public schools, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the Governor’s special legislative committee on integration with the request that the motions set forth be given due consideration in the study said committee is currently conducting.â€
The 1954 the Supreme Court decision known as Brown v. Board of Education overturned the previous “separate but equal†ruling on which a decades of segregated education in the South was based. In a vote of 9 to 0, the Court agreed that the separation violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Though integration was legally ordered, discrimination and hesitation led to a policy known as “massive resistance.â€
Harry Flood Byrd served as Virginia state senator (1915-1925), governor (1926-1930), and as a US Senator (1933-1965). He is known for first using the term “massive resistance†as a policy of resistance to the Brown decision. Byrd was supported by the prevailing attitudes of politicians and white voters in Virginia. As Massive Resistance gained momentum in resisting integration in the public schools; he even pushed to close schools, as many did.
In 1955, only a year after the Brown v. Board of Education verdict, the Gray Commission, named after State Senator Garland Gray, proposed several ideas concerning the integration of public schools. Among these proposals were: that laws concerning school attendance be amended so that no child would be required to attend an integrated school; that funds be allocated as tuition grants for parents who opposed sending their students to a school of both races; that local school boards be authorizes to assign white and African-American students to particular schools.
As these policies plagued the state and nation as a whole, some of the same ideas were documented in Louisa County. The following excerpts come from the Louisa County Board of Supervisors’ minutes.
February 6, 1954: “The Clerk was instructed to write to the Honorable Harold H. Purcell and request that he use his best efforts and influence in regard to the following legislation which is of vital interest to Louisa County: 1. Support enactment of a general sales tax, at the wholesale level, for the state of Virginia. 2. Oppose any legislation which would prevent the separation of white and colored property owners on the land and personal property books of the counties of the State.â€
September 4, 1954: “…for the construction of and additions and improvements to school buildings in Louisa County: Resolution adopted June 6, 1953 authorizing the borrowing of $86,400 for additions to the Louisa County High School; Resolution adopted June 6, 1953 authorizing the borrowing of $63,000 for improvements to the Louisa Elementary School; Resolution adopted June 6, 1953 authorizing the borrowing of $55,000 for the erection of a school building for colored school children in the Ferncliff area.â€
Novemeber 6, 1954: “WHEREAS, it is believed that integration of white and negro students in the public schools of the Commonwealth of Virginia is against the best interests and contrary to the wishes of the great majority of both races, and WHEREAS, it is believed that any system of public education which does not have the approval of the great majority of the parents and taxpayers who support it is destined for failure, and WHEREAS, it is believed that conditions in the various localities of the Commonwealth will differ very widely. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of County Supervisors of Louisa County, Virginia, that a system of free public schools should be maintained which should receive state direction and financial support, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that each county and city should have the right to participate in this system or to abolish its public schools and Section 129 of the Constitution of Virginia should be amended to make this possible, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that each locality which participates in the system should be allowed to choose from several state approved plans that plan best suited to its particular needs, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the compulsory attendance law should be amended to exempt from its operation any child whose parents or legal guardian objects to integration in the public schools, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the Governor’s special legislative committee on integration with the request that the motions set forth be given due consideration in the study said committee is currently conducting.â€
Source
Louisa County Courthouse Records
Publisher
Louisa County Historical Society
Date
1950's-1960's
Rights
All items in our archives have been donated to The Louisa County Historical Society with express permission to use them only for not-for-profit purposes of education and individual research. We make them available online to further those ends. Anyone wishing to use images online or in printed publications must obtain express written permission to do so from the Louisa County Historical Society and the legal copyright holder. Users assume full responsibility for disputes arising from copyright violations or invasions of privacy.