Massive Resistance

Massive Resistance is a term referring to the Virginia led the movement led by Senator Harry F. Byrd Sr. Senator Byrd openly supported the "Southern Manifesto," a document signed by over one hundred Southern lawmakers opposing intergration. In 1956, Bryd called for Massive Resistance, which included a series of laws created to block or delay school integration. Prince Edward County became a symbol of extreme resistance to school desegregation, defunding and closing all public schools from 1959 to 1964.

Senator Harry Floods Byrd

(Image Courtesy of Houchins Photo)

"From 1959 - 1964, more than a dozen major laws had become a part of the code of Virginia - each of them intended to circumvent the U.S. Supreme Cout decision in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case"

(Picott & Peeples, 1954)

Fred O. Seibel Richmond Times-Dispatch (1958)

"If we can organize the Southern States for massive resistance to this order I think that, in time, the rest of the country will realize that racial integration is not going to be accepted in the South.”

Senator Harry Flood Byrd, 1954

Fred O. Seibel Richmond Times-Dispatch (1959)

This footage, filmed in August of 1956 by news outlet WDBJ features Governor Thomas B. Stanley, who is stating the clear policy of the state that white and black children could not be educated together and only segregated schools will receive state funding.

University of Virginia. 2005. “Television News of the Civil Rights Era : Film & Summaries.” Virginia.edu. William G. Thomas, III and Rector and Board of Visitors, University of Virginia. 2005. https://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/civilrightstv/otherFilms/other-topic-015.html.

The Lost Years (1959-1964)