Understanding Alexandria’s role in the broader picture of ’s segregation

• The Byrd Organization and the Democratic Party in Virginia • The Byrd Organization within Alexandria • Racial “moderates” and incremental desegregation, 1959-65 • Massive Resistance to Resistance and Indifference (Ms. Wood) • Albohm and acceptance of neighborhood segregation, 1965-1971 • Federal pressure for greater elementary integration and resistance from the local elites: the meeting of July 20, 1971 • , parental influence and the creation of a tracked system of within-school segregation, 1971-79 • Moving ACPS Beyond Resistance and Indifference (Ms. Wood) The Democratic Party and the Byrd Organization in Virginia Features of the Byrd Regime

• Led by U.S. Senator Harry Byrd • “It’s like a club, except it has no bylaws, constitution or dues. It’s a loosely knit organization, you might say, between men who share the philosophy of Senator Byrd • Governor J. Lindsay Almond, Jr. to a Time magazine reporter in 1958. • Demanded fierce loyalty and tolerated no dissent • Highly organized at the local level • Political base in Southside, but extensively woven throughout the state What the Byrd Regime stood for

• Low taxes and “pay-as-you go” fiscal conservativism • Low levels of public services in education, health and highways • Systematic disenfranchisment and deprivation of voting rights • A cumulative poll tax had to be paid for three consecutive years and six months in advance of an election in order to vote • Average turnout in the Democratic primary from 1925-1945: 11.5% • Maintenance of segregation Timeline of desegregation in Alexandria

• 1954: Brown v. Board of Education • 1956: Rise of Massive Resistance in Virginia • August,1958: 14 Black students in Alexandria petition to be enrolled in all-white schools; they are denied • September 1958, Jones v. Alexandria City Public Schools desegregation suit filed • January 19, 1959 State court strikes down Massive Resistance • January 22, 1959 School Board uses “non-racial” criteria to again deny petitions of all 14 plaintiffs • February 4, 1959, Judge Bryan orders desegregation • February 10, 1959, nine Black school children desegregate three Alexandria schools Elements of Massive Resistance

• Senator Byrd, February 1956: • "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 is not going to be accepted in the South."

Multiple laws enacted: -ended compulsory school attendance -enacted school vouchers -cut funds for any school that voluntarily desegregated -cut funds for any school that desegregated under court order -allowed Governor to close any school undergoing desegregation Tuition vouchers and private school enrollments Alexandria’s Racial Moderates What change meant to the Byrd regime

• “The only sane and constructive course to follow is to remain in the house of our fathers – even though the roof leaks, and there may be bats in the belfry, rats in the pantry, a cockroach waltz in the kitchen and skunks in the parlor.” • J. Lindsay Almond, future Massive Resistance Hardens Views of Alexandrians

• In 1957, Alexandrians re-elected of State Senator James M. Thomson, “leader of the most fanatic segregationists throughout the massive resistance era.” • Vote for Thomson increased by 1000 votes out of 5300 cast • In 1959, the City Council voted 4-3 to remove Herman Moeller from the School Board, who voted for desegregation after ACPS lost the court case. • Removal was led by former Mayor Marshall Beverley, a cousin of Harry Byrd and Booth’s opponent in the 1959 state senate primary State Senate Campaign of 1959: Booth v. former Mayor Marshall Beverley Booth’s position turns less moderate

• His 1959 campaign platform: “public schools segregated to the limit allows by law” • In 1957, he wrote in a letter to a friend that there were four elements to resolving race relations in the South: • “1. To acknowledge, even if regretfully, that the Supreme Court decision is the law of the land. • 2. To recognized the traditions and customs under which we have lived for 350 years. • 3. To recognize the Negro race, as a race, is very inferior to the white race. • 4. To recognize that there are individual negroes who have the character, intelligence, and other requisites entitling them to full first class American citizenship. To my mind this is key to the situation.” Booth’s position mirrors TC Williams’ views Desegregation in Alexandria: Mostly peaceful, foot-draggingly slow From Massive Resistance to Resistance and Indifference

Massive Resistance: Resistance and Indifference • Product of calculated campaign by VA’s • Power, Time and Resource Hoarding political machine, “The Organization” • Comfort level to maintain at all • Maintain Systems of Advantage costs and deny African Americans full • One high school, participation in political, social and • Integrated physically economic life • Segregation within the one high school is real • Deeply tied to the maintenance of a • Honors, AP, DE STEM, Governor's Health -based ideology of white supremacy Science Academy • Beliefs • Fear of open dialogue • Separate facilities are best for both races • Use of media and social media • Criteria & Assumptions about student learning, capacity and potential • Effects of mixing “slow” AA learners with the “advanced” white students Albohm and the Reliance on Neighborhoods to Organize Schools

• Upon his arrival in 1963, Albohm shifted school attendance zones to neighborhoods, dropping the petition requirement • Residential segregation, however, meant that many elementary schools remained all-white, particularly on the West Side Neighborhood schools remained segregated, 1966 Contexts of Federal Pressure to Integrate Elementary Schools

• In 1971 Albohm moved to combine three, already desegregated, high schools into one single 2 year high school • The 6-2-2-2 Plan • The TC Williams High School of Remember the Titans fame • But the legal jeopardy was not at the secondary level; it was at the elementary level Federal Pressure: Minutes from a meeting on July 20, 1971

• Albohm, Deputy Superintendent Raymond Sanger and two HEW officials, Ernest King and James Wego • At issue: segregation in elementary schools did not meet federal requirements. • Albohm: We spent our political capital adopting the 6-2-2-2 plan. We have no wiggle room from community. • Looking to buy some time Sanger seeks delay

• Sanger: “I feel it [the 6-2-2-2 plan] is going to save a section of the city [around George Washington High School] because we have had a major move-out of solid citizens. We are hoping this will arrest the situation and stabilize the community. If we were to integrate more our predominantly Negro elementary schools it would confuse the issue. … I would like to delay the elementary problem for a while." Albohm shows the stress

• Albohm: “We do not indicate unwillingness to cooperate with you. We are getting phone calls from very prominent people [in Alexandria], who do not have any children in school, who are officials in the Federal Government and who are nationally known. … All I am getting from outsiders, from the School Board, City Council members, prominent people, is caution.” The regime doesn’t want elementary integration

• Albohm: “We have lost white support. We have lost black support. Parents think we have not kept promises. … I am trying to indicate the box we are in. There is a caution on our part and maybe a caution on the part of the School Board and the community because of the [existing] power structure.” HEW’s response

• The end of the minutes read as follows: • “Mr. King: Whatever you decide to do, you need to decide between now and the first of September. • Mr. Wego: We will have to have an answer by the last of July. • Dr. Albohm: What alternatives do we have? Do we describe any plans that the School Board would have? • The meeting adjourned at 4:00pm. It was entirely cordial.” What was Albohm afraid of? ACPS Fudged These Figures Rationales for Exit – The Full Tally In response, new forms of segregation arose in the 1970s • Tracking • AP Courses • Honors • Talented and Gifted • Only “individual students” of outstanding merit who met the threshold allowed in. • Limits opportunities for students whose earlier education is inadequate • Over-identification of disabilities among students of color “...while some remarkable individual African Americans may have the ‘character, intelligence and other requisits entitling them to full first-class American citizenship,’ the ‘Negro race, as a race, is very inferior to the white race.’”

-State Senator Armistead Lloyd Boothe- (1957 Letter to a close friend) From Building the Federal Schoolhouse

Students’ Voice

...We DEMAND change... Listen to Black Students. Look into your classrooms and see the potential of all of America-not just Caucasian students. Address how history is taught. Encourage discussion around racial issues in classrooms- no matter how uncomfortable. Look into other discipline methods- abolish biased zero tolerance policies. Address intrinsic bias. Address racist students. Never again allow a Black or Latinx student to walk into your schools and feel unsafe because of the color of his, her or their skin. Value our lives. Black Lives Matter. RACIAL EQUITY is when race does not determine quality of life, opportunities, and outcomes.

• Our goal is to collectively remove barriers that prevent someone from achieving their aspirations and fully engaging in whatever they choose within ACPS’ educational experiences.

• ACPS places racial equity at the heart of everything it does due to the recognition that the creation and perpetuation of racial inequities has been deeply rooted into school systems. Equity for All 2025 Goal Areas

RACIAL EQUITY