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The Gainsboro History Project

Massive Resistance to Desegregation in Virginia

Opposition to Desegregation

Even after the Brown decision in 1954, Virginia resisted integration and pursued alternatives for public schools. Several laws were put into place to slow and prevent integration. These laws became known as “Massive Resistance Laws.”

  • In Virginia, Senator Harry F. Byrd Sr. promoted the “Southern Manifesto” which opposed racial integration of schools and called for “massive resistance.” The 1956 Congressional manifesto was signed by 82 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and 19 U.S. Senators, all from the South.
  • In 1956, the General Assembly of Virginia adopted a Resolution of Interposition which ruled that based on state sovereignty, the state could intervene between the unconstitutional federal mandate and local authorities.
  • That same year the Virginia General Assembly passed legislation, recommended by the 1955 Gray Commission appointed by Virginia Governor Thomas B. Stanley:
    • A State Pupil Placement Board was responsible for assigning students to particular schools (instead of a local placement board).
    • Tuition grants were provided for students who wanted to attend private, segregated schools of their choice. This was called the Freedom of Choice Plan.
    • The State withheld funds for public schools that integrated.

Some localities across Virginia actually closed schools to resist integration. Charlottesville, Norfolk, and Warren County schools closed 1958-59; Prince William County closed the entire public school system for five years, from 1959-1964. Education through private schools for White children was provided through state tuition grants. No provisions were made for Black children, although some received education via relatives and makeshift schools in church basements.

Although massive resistance laws in Virginia were overturned by the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals in 1959, it was not until after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which denied federal funds to schools that resisted integration, that Virginia schools complied with integration.

“No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”—Title VI, Sec. 601 Civil Rights Act of 1964

By 1965, few Blacks had been approved for placement in White schools across the Commonwealth. The freedom of choice school system and tuition grants offered to White students perpetuated segregated schools and created unequal education opportunities and facilities.

In 1968, a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Green v. School Board of New Kent County, Virginia ended the dual system / freedom of choice plan for schools and hastened change for equitable, unified school systems. Virginia civil rights attorneys Samuel W. Tucker, Henry L. Marsh III, and Oliver W. Hill handled the case for the Virginia State Conference NAACP.

In New Kent County under a freedom of choice school plan, 115 Black students chose to attend mostly White New Kent High School, but no White students chose to attend the Black George W. Watkins School. The suit contended that the freedom of choice methodology did not adequately integrate the schools.

The U.S. Supreme Court decision ended the freedom of choice plan and established five criteria for measuring and ensuring racial balance in schools —facilities, faculty, staff, transportation, and extracurricular activities—to evaluate school progress on desegregation. It is considered one of the most significant cases following Brown v. Board of Education because of its focus on promulgating standards to measure achieving racial balance, and for its ultimate impact on achieving integration.

See Also

  1. Desegregation Changed Gainsboro
  2. Civil Rights and Equal Protection
  3. Personal Stories and Perspectives of Integration

Sources

Allen, J. & Daugherity, B. (2021, February 09). Green, Charles C. et al. v. County School Board of New Kent County, Virginia. In Encyclopedia Virginia. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/green-charles-c-et-al-v-county-school-board-of-new-kent-county-virginia.

Berrier, R.  & Chittum, M.  (May 26, 2016). Roanoke Reborn. Discover History and Heritage Magazine. The Roanoke Times.

Brown Foundation. (n.d.). Combined Brown Cases 1951-1954. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://brownvboard.org/content/combined-brown-cases-1951-54.

CaseLaw Access Project, Harvard Law School. (2019, August 29). Green v. School Board of the Roanoke, 304 F.2d 118 (1962). https://cite.case.law/f2d/304/118/?full_case=true&format=html

Duignan, B. (2021, 10 August). Plessy v. Ferguson. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Plessy-v-Ferguson-1896.

Edds, M. (2018). We Face the Dawn. University of Virginia Press.

Ellis, S. (2011, May 28). Roanoke’s School Integration: ‘I tried to look like everyone else.’ The Roanoke Times.

Hill, O. W. (2000). The big bang: Brown vs board of education and beyond : the autobiography of Oliver W. Hill, Sr. Four-G Publishers.

History.com Editors. (2022, January 11). Brown v. Board of Education. A&E Television Networks. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/brown-v-board-of-education-of-topeka

Jones, P. C. (2013, May).  Integrating the Star City of the South: Roanoke school desegregation and the politics of delay.  [Master’s thesis, The College of William and Mary] https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6051&context=etd

Justia U.S. Supreme Court. (n.d.)  Green v. County Sch. Bd. of New Kent County, 391 U.S. 430 (1968). Accessed February 9, 2022, from  https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/391/430/

Justia U.S. Supreme Court. (n.d.) Green v. School Board of City of Roanoke, 316 F. Supp. 6 (W.D. Va. 1970) Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/316/6/1951461/

Justia US Law. (n.d.) Green v. School Board of City of Roanoke, 330 F. Supp. 674 (W.D. Va. 1971). Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/330/674/2126324/

Justia U. S. Supreme Court. (n.d.) Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896) Law. 1896.

Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/163/537/

National Archives. (2021, June 3). Brown v. Board of Education. https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/brown-v-board

Poff, M. E. (2014, March 17). School desegregation in Roanoke, Virginia: The black student perspective [PhD Dissertation]. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

White, C. (1982). Roanoke 1740-1982. Roanoke Valley Historical Society. Hickory Printing, Roanoke, Virginia.