DOCSLIB.ORG

Public School Desegregation in Memphis Author(S): Roger Biles Source: the Journal of Negro Education, Vol

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Public School Desegregation in Memphis Author(S): Roger Biles Source: the Journal of Negro Education, Vol Journal of Negro Education A Bittersweet Victory: Public School Desegregation in Memphis Author(s): Roger Biles Source: The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 55, No. 4 (Autumn, 1986), pp. 470-483 Published by: Journal of Negro Education Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2294831 Accessed: 13-03-2017 22:23 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms Journal of Negro Education is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Negro Education This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Mon, 13 Mar 2017 22:23:22 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms A Bittersweet Victory: Public School Desegregation in Memphis Roger Biles, Department of History, Oklahoma State University The 1954 United States Supreme Court ruling on school desegre- gation sent southern white supremacists in search of means to resist or at least delay implementation. Their tactics varied. Some states invoked the aged doctrine of interposition, along with the implied threat of secession; others sought simply to ignore the decision and its call for compliance "with all deliberate speed." Organizations like the Ku Klux Klan and the Citizens' Councils sprang to life to lead the counteroffensive. To some, "massive resistance" meant boycotts, picketing, even violence. In the most celebrated case of southern recalcitrance, President Dwight D. Eisenhower dis- patched federal troops to Arkansas to ensure the peaceful deseg- regation of Little Rock's Central High School. In countless other locations, from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Clinton, Tennessee, the absence of such restraining action led to widespread rioting. Throughout the South, by word and by deed, citizens and their political representatives gave stern notice that public school deseg- regation would not pass quickly and quietly from the scene.1 In recent evaluations of post-Brown public school desegregation in the South, historians have noted the remarkable ability of many of the region's communities to thwart the Supreme Court's ruling. In The Burden of Brown, Raymond Wolters traced the progress of change in five school districts involved in the 1954 decision. (In 'On the southern reaction to the Brown decision, see: Numan V. Bartley, The Rise of Massive Resistance: Race and Politics in the South During the 1950s (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1969); Benjamin Muse, Ten Years of Prelude: The Story of Integration Since the Supreme Court's 1954 Decision (New York: Viking Press, 1964); Reed Sarratt, The Ordeal of Desegregation: The First Decade (New York: Harper and Row, 1966); James W. Vander Zanden, Race Relations in Transition: The Segregation Crisis in the South (New York: Random House, 1965); James W. Ely, Jr., The Crisis of Conservative Virginia: The Byrd Organization and the Politics of Massive Resistance (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1976); and Neil R. McMillen, The Citizens' Council: Organized Resistance to the Second Reconstruction, 1954-1964 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1971). Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 55, No. 4 (1986) 470 Copyright ? 1986, Howard University This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Mon, 13 Mar 2017 22:23:22 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms addition to the suit against the Topeka, Kansas, school system, the Court considered jointly appeals from Delaware, Virginia, and South Carolina; a fifth case, decided the same day, found segregation unacceptable in Washington, D.C.) With the exception of Topeka, where compliance was relatively painless due to a tiny black pop- ulation of roughly eight percent, conditions changed more halt- ingly. "In the other districts where blacks constituted between 25 and 90 percent of the students," Wolters said, "there was protracted litigation as the communities struggled to comply with-or in some cases to evade-the Court's ruling." Similarly, J. Harvie Wilkin- son's chronicle of public-school integration in the South from Brown to Bakke noted that compliance came grudgingly and only after the painstaking exposure and destruction of myriad tactics of resis- tance. And even as the final barriers to "massive integration" fell, a new phase-that of "resegregation"-began to emerge in many southern localities. These historians highlighted the painfully slow pace of change and the fruitful attempts at avoiding actual school desegregation in southern communities.2 In some southern cities, by contrast, a more moderate temper seemed to prevail. Notable for its success in desegregating its public schools was the Mississippi River town of Memphis, Tennessee. Though situated in the heart of Dixie, Memphis escaped the don- nybrooks over public-school integration that plagued so many of its neighboring communities. In September, 1962, for example, only fifty miles to the south in Oxford, Mississippi, violence erupted and U.S. marshals intervened to protect James Meredith as he became the first black student to matriculate at "Ole Miss." One year earlier, President John F. Kennedy had lauded Memphis for its peaceful toppling of segregation in the schools, noting that the city "reflected credit on the United States throughout the world." In the following years, as integration proceeded apace, first haphazardly and later stimulated by court-ordered busing, Memphis continued to avoid the disorder rampant elsewhere. For all intents and purposes, the 2Raymond Wolters, The Burden of Brown: Thirty Years of School Desegregation (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1984); J. Harvie Wilkinson III, From Brown to Bakke: The Supreme Court and School Integration, 1954-1978 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979). Historian William H. Chafe found that Greensboro, North Carolina "opted for stability of school assignments over wholesale redistrict- ing" and the result was a more effective and tranquil desegregation process. William H. Chafe, Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for Freedom (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), p. 344. In examining the role of businessmen in desegregation, Elizabeth Jacoway, David R. Colburn, and their fellow co-contributors found a mixed bag: in Norfolk, New Orleans, Birmingham, and Jackson, businessmen acted as obstructionists. In other locations, such as Tampa, Columbia, and Dallas, they took the lead in preparing for change. Elizabeth Jacoway and David R. Colburn, eds., Southern Businessmen and Desegregation (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1982). The Journal of Negro Education 471 This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Mon, 13 Mar 2017 22:23:22 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Bluff City seemed a model of peaceful integration, a genuine success story, and a triumph of moderate leadership.3 And yet, a closer examination reveals a less satisfying picture. Passive, not massive, resistance unfolded with a most effective result: whites avoided integration by fleeing the public schools. Once integration became a genuine threat, the majority of white students took to their heels and left behind an almost totally black student population. By the 1970s the successes of the 1950s and 1960s merely constituted Pyrrhic victories. Moderate leadership paved the way for only token changes, and the Supreme Court's goal of an integrated student populace went unrealized. The forces for moderation in Memphis surfaced almost imme- diately after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. Both daily newspapers called for restraint. The day after the Court announced its decision, the Commercial Appeal urged its readers to "approach this issue with calmness, reason, and a genuine spirit of cooperation." It concluded: "Whether for good or bad, the Supreme Court has ruled segregation unconstitutional, and it has been tra- ditional for the American people to respect the dignity of the law." The Press-Scimitar went even further, arguing that adherence to the new law would improve America's image abroad. It suggested that "our preachments on democracy and dignity and equal opportunity of man will ring truer to Asia's fermenting millions when they learn that here in America equality was not graded by complexion."4 Mayor Edmund Orgill, a successful businessman elected in 1955 as the reform candidate, similarly staked out a relatively enlight- ened position. Orgill had campaigned against the stultefying con- servatism of the entrenched Democratic machine, whose grip on the city had been broken with the death of Boss E. H. Crump in 1954, and called for a new progressive image for the city. Recog- nizing the need for quiescent race relations, Orgill cautioned Mem- phians against intemperate action. First, he assured them of his own convictions. "I, along with other members of the present City Commission," he said, "am on record as being in favor of segre- gation." Integration in the public schools would be limited, the mayor promised. Most important, the city must behave with dig- nity, aspiring to the most vital goals of "keeping the peace, uphold- 3New York Times, March 24, 1962. For an analysis of public school desegregation in Nashville,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Sequence 01 2 Page 1 of 25 Cheryl Cotton, Cameron Norman, Obdieah Robinson
    Sequence 01_2 Page 1 of 25 Cheryl Cotton, Cameron Norman, Obdieah Robinson [0:00:00] Cheryl Cotton: Good morning. I’m Cheryl Fanion Cotton and I want to read something that I wrote. Several years ago I was up and couldn’t sleep and I went to my computer feeling a little blue. And I said “Cheryl, why don’t you write down some of the things you’ve done in life.” So that’s what I did. So these are called the “I Haves Of My Life.” I have attended church all of my life. My church is here in South Memphis. Saint Mary United Methodist Church. I have loved and respected all of God’s creations. I have dutifully accepted servanthood as a way of life. I earned my high school diploma from Booker T. Washington high school in 1968. I grew up in the Civil Rights Movement and marched with Dr. King. I have pictures in the Ernest Withers Museum downtown and I looked for it last night and I just could not find it. I earned my college degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1973. [0:01:00] I attended the school of theology at Boston University in 1974, where Dr. King earned his PhD. I attended Pittsburgh Theological Seminary from 1975-1978 and I earned a Masters Divinity Degree from Memphis Theological Seminary in 2000. I was a student chaplain at the old St. Joseph Hospital in Memphis and my job was to go around and pray in the rooms of patients. But I always asked for permission.
    [Show full text]
  • The "Virginian-Pilot" Newspaper's Role in Moderating Norfolk, Virginia's 1958 School Desegregation Crisis
    Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - College of Education & Professional Studies Urban Education (Darden) Winter 1991 The "Virginian-Pilot" Newspaper's Role in Moderating Norfolk, Virginia's 1958 School Desegregation Crisis Alexander Stewart Leidholdt Old Dominion University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/urbanservices_education_etds Part of the Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Education Commons, Journalism Studies Commons, Mass Communication Commons, and the Race and Ethnicity Commons Recommended Citation Leidholdt, Alexander S.. "The "Virginian-Pilot" Newspaper's Role in Moderating Norfolk, Virginia's 1958 School Desegregation Crisis" (1991). Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), dissertation, , Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/tb1v-f795 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/urbanservices_education_etds/119 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Education & Professional Studies (Darden) at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 1 THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT NEWSPAPER'S ROLE IN MODERATING NORFOLK, VIRGINIA'S 1958 SCHOOL DESEGREGATION CRISIS by Alexander Stewart Leidholdt B.A. May 1978, Virginia Wesleyan College M.S. May 1980, Clarion University Ed.S. December 1984, Indiana University A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Old Dominion Unversity in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY URBAN SERVICES OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY December, 1991 Approved By: Maurice R. Berube, Dissertation Chair Concentration Area^TFlrector ember Dean of the College of Education Member Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.
    [Show full text]
  • William F. Winter and the Politics of Racial Moderation in Mississippi
    WILLIAM WINTER AND THE POLITICS OF RACIAL MODERATION 335 William F. Winter and the Politics of Racial Moderation in Mississippi by Charles C. Bolton On May 12, 2008, William F. Winter received the Profile in Courage Award from the John F. Kennedy Foundation, which honored the former Mississippi governor for “championing public education and racial equality.” The award was certainly well deserved and highlighted two important legacies of one of Mississippi’s most important public servants in the post–World War II era. During Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s presentation of the award, he noted that Winter had been criticized “for his integrationist stances” that led to his defeat in the gubernatorial campaign of 1967. Although Winter’s opponents that year certainly tried to paint him as a moderate (or worse yet, a liberal) and as less than a true believer in racial segregation, he would be the first to admit that he did not advocate racial integration in 1967; indeed, much to his regret later, Winter actually pandered to white segregationists in a vain attempt to win the election. Because Winter, over the course of his long career, has increasingly become identified as a champion of racial justice, it is easy, as Senator Kennedy’s remarks illustrate, to flatten the complexity of Winter’s evolution on the issue CHARLES C. BOLTON is the guest editor of this special edition of the Journal of Mississippi History focusing on the career of William F. Winter. He is profes- sor and head of the history department at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
    [Show full text]
  • Final Report and Working Papers of the Twenty-Second Seminar On
    H. , . BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY PROVO. UTAH 8S 12- 11 THE MULTIFACETED ROLE OF THE LATIN AMERICAN SUBJECT SPECIALIST Final Report and Working Papers of the Twenty -second Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials University of Florida Gainesville, Florida June 12-17, 1977 Anne H. Jordan Editor SALALM Secretariat Austin, Texas 1979 Copyright Q by SALAIM Inc. 1979 HAROLD B. LEE LIBRARY BRIGHAM YOUNG UK SITY PROvn iitau — — iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Introduction vii PROGRAM AND RESOLUTIONS Program and Schedule of Activities 3 Resolutions 8 SUMMARY REPORTS OF THE SESSIONS Latin American Area Centers and Library Research Resources: A Challenge for Survival—Laurence Hallewell 13 User Education Programs : The Texas Experience —Mary Ferris Burns . 17 Archives and Data Banks —Richard Puhek 19 Politics and Publishing: The Cases of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile—Sammy Alzofon Kinard 20 The Latin American Specialist and the Collection: In-House Bibliography Models for a Guide to the Resources on Latin America in the Library—Dan C. Hazen 22 Problems in the Acquisition of Central American and Caribbean Material—Lesbia Varona U2 The Latin American Subject Specialist and Reference Service Karen A. Schmidt **3 Final General Session—Mina Jane Grothey 51 ANNUAL REPORTS TO SALALM A Bibliography of Latin American Bibliographies Daniel Raposo Cordeiro 59 Microfilming Projects Newsletter No. 19—Suzanne Hodgman 9o Report of the Bibliographical Activities of the Latin American, Portuguese and Spanish Division—Mary Ellis Kahler 108 Latin American Books: Average Costs for Fiscal Years 1973, 197 1*, 1975, and 1976—Robert C. Sullivan Ill Latin American Activities in the United Kingdom Laurence Hallewell 11^ — — — —— 1V Page Resources for Latin American Studies in Australia—National Library of Australia 119 Library Activities in the Caribbean Area 1976/77: Report to SALALM XXII—Alma T.
    [Show full text]
  • "I AM a 1968 Memphis Sanitation MAN!": Race, Masculinity, and The
    LaborHistory, Vol. 41, No. 2, 2000 ªIAMA MAN!º: Race,Masculinity, and the 1968 MemphisSanitation Strike STEVEESTES* On March 28, 1968 Martin LutherKing, Jr. directeda march ofthousands of African-American protestersdown Beale Street,one of the major commercial thoroughfares in Memphis,Tennessee. King’ splane had landedlate that morning, and thecrowd was already onthe verge ofcon¯ ict with thepolice whenhe and other members ofthe Southern Christian LeadershipConference (SCLC) took their places at thehead of the march. The marchers weredemonstrating their supportfor 1300 striking sanitation workers,many ofwhom wore placards that proclaimed, ªIAm a Man.ºAs the throng advanceddown Beale Street,some of the younger strike support- ersripped theprotest signs off the the wooden sticks that they carried. Theseyoung men,none of whomwere sanitation workers,used the sticks to smash glass storefronts onboth sidesof the street. Looting ledto violent police retaliation. Troopers lobbed tear gas into groups ofprotesters and sprayed mace at demonstratorsunlucky enough tobe in range. High above thefray in City Hall, Mayor HenryLoeb sat in his of®ce, con®dent that thestrike wasillegal, andthat law andorder wouldbe maintained in Memphis.1 This march wasthe latest engagement in a®ght that had raged in Memphissince the daysof slaveryÐ acon¯ict over African-American freedomsand civil rights. In one sense,the ª IAm aManºslogan wornby thesanitation workersrepresented a demand for recognition oftheir dignity andhumanity. This demandcaught whiteMemphians bysurprise,because they had always prided themselvesas being ªprogressiveºon racial issues.Token integration had quietly replaced public segregation in Memphisby the mid-1960s, butin the1967 mayoral elections,segregationist candidateHenry Loeb rodea waveof white backlash against racial ªmoderationºinto of®ce.
    [Show full text]
  • Reflections on Affirmative Action: Its Origins, Virtues, Enemies, Champions, and Prospects
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 456 204 UD 034 379 AUTHOR Gaston, Paul M. TITLE Reflections on Affirmative Action: Its Origins, Virtues, Enemies, Champions, and Prospects. PUB DATE 2001-00-00 NOTE 18p.; In: Orfield, Gary, Ed., Diversity Challenged: Evidence on the Impact of Affirmative Action. Cambridge, Harvard Education Publishing Group, 2001. p277-293. See UD 034 365. PUB TYPE Opinion Papers (120) Reports Descriptive (141) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Affirmative Action; Civil Rights; *College Admission; *Diversity (Student); Higher Education; Minority Groups; Racial Discrimination; Racial Integration IDENTIFIERS University of Virginia ABSTRACT This chapter reflects on the civil rights movement and affirmative action at the University of Virginia from the 1960s to 1999, when affirmative action was challenged by people claiming that it discriminated against new groups. It describes how affirmative action changed the author's teaching at the University as he challenged deep-rooted racial beliefs. The chapter suggests that affirmative action is essential to higher education for the pursuit of justice and the health of U.S. society. It details the attack on affirmative action, describing differences between what opponents of affirmative action call racial discrimination and what actual racial discrimination involves. It explains what affirmative action means to education, noting that misconceptions about the admission process often spring from unexamined assumptions that universities base their admissions offers on estimates of candidates' academic promise. In reality, universities typically do not base their admission offers on estimates of academic ability alone but instead also consider interests, needs, talents, skills, sex, race, nationality, and residence. The principle of affirmative action laid out by Justice Lewis Powell of Virginia states that race may be legitimately considered where it is simply one element, to be weighed fairly against other elements, in the selection process.
    [Show full text]
  • Virginia's Massive Folly
    Undergraduate Research Journal at UCCS Volume 2.1, Spring 2009 Virginia’s “Massive Folly”: Harry Byrd, Prince Edward County, and the Front Line Laura Grant Dept. of History, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Abstract This paper examines the closure of public schools in Prince Edward County, Virginia from 1959- 1964 in an effort to avoid desegregation. Specifically, the paper traces the roots of the political actions which led to the closure and then-Governor Harry Byrd's role in Virginia's political machine at the time. The paper argues that it was Byrd's influence which led to the conditions that not only made the closure possible in Virginia, but encouraged the white citizens of Prince Edward County to make their stand. In September, 1959, the public schools in Prince Edward County, Virginia closed their doors to all students. While most white students were educated in makeshift private schools, the doors of public education remained closed until the Supreme Court ordered the schools to reopen in 1964. This drastic episode in Virginia’s history was a response to the public school integration mandated by the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954. Prince Edward County was not the only district in Virginia to take this action; it was merely the most extreme case of resistance after state laws banning integration were struck down as unconstitutional. Schools all over the state closed, most only temporarily, and the white community rallied to offer white students assistance to attend segregated private schools rather than face integration in a movement termed “Massive Resistance.” While this “Brown backlash” occurred all over the South, it was most prevalent in the Deep South.
    [Show full text]
  • AMERICA, the SOUTH and DESEGRATION STATEMENT PRESENTED by the DIVISON of the SOCIAL SCIENCES at ITS SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE APRIL 18, 19, 20, 1956
    Howard University Digital Howard @ Howard University Graduate School Publications Graduate School 1-1-1956 AMERICA, THE SOUTH AND DESEGRATION STATEMENT PRESENTED by the DIVISON OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES at ITS SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE APRIL 18, 19, 20, 1956. Graduate School Follow this and additional works at: http://dh.howard.edu/gs_pub Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation School, Graduate, "AMERICA, THE SOUTH AND DESEGRATION STATEMENT PRESENTED by the DIVISON OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES at ITS SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE APRIL 18, 19, 20, 1956." (1956). Graduate School Publications. 10. http://dh.howard.edu/gs_pub/10 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Digital Howard @ Howard University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate School Publications by an authorized administrator of Digital Howard @ Howard University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. \-\ - M3?8 ~M H <63so ,C\-Sb AMERIC~, THE SOUTH AND DESEGREGATION STATEMENT PRESENTED by the DIVISION OF SOCIAL SCIENCES at ITS SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE APRIL 18, 19, and 20, 1956 Published by THE HOWARD UNIVERSITY PRESS The Graduate School, Howard University . ,0 Washington, D. C. 1956 HOWARD UNIVERSITY AMERICA, THE SOUTH AND DESEGREGATION STATEMENT PRESENTED by the DIVISION OF SqCIAL SCIENCES at ITS SEVENTEENTHANNUAL CONFERENCE Department of Anthropology Department of Business Administration Department of Economics Department of Geography Department of Government Department of History Department of Philosophy Department of Social Science Department of Sociology APRIL 18, 19,·and 20, 1956 . Published by THE HOWARD UNIVERSITY PRESS' The Graduate School, Howard University Washington, D.
    [Show full text]
  • Civil Rights During the Kennedy Administration, 1961-1963
    CIVIL RIGHTS DURING THE KENNEDY ADMINISTRATION, 1961-1963 Part 1: The White House Central Files and Staff Files and the President's Office Files UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS OF AMERICA BLACK STUDIES RESEARCH SOURCES: Microfilms from Major Archival and Manuscript Collections August Meier and Elliott Rudwick General Editors CIVIL RIGHTS DURING THE KENNEDY ADMINISTRATION, 1961-1963 Part 1: The White House Central Files and Staff Files and the President's Office Files CIVIL RIGHTS DURING THE KENNEDY ADMINISTRATION, 1961-1963 Part 1: The White House Central Files and Staff Files and the President's Office Files A collection from the holdings of The John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts Edited by Carl M. Brauer Associate Editor Robert Lester Guide Compiled by Martin Schipper A microfilm project of UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS OF AMERICA, INC. 44 North Market Street • Frederick, MD 21701 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Civil rights during the Kennedy administration, 1961-1963 [microform]. (Black studies research sources: microfilms from major archival and manuscript collections) Contents: pt. 1. The White House central files and staff files and the president's office files/ edited by Carl M. Brauer. 1. Civil rights—United States—History—Sources. 2. United States—Politics and government—1961-1963— Sources. 3. John F. Kennedy Library. I. Brauer, Carl M., 1946- . II. John F. Kennedy Library. [JC599] 323.4'0973 87-2061 ISBN 0-89093-900-4 (pt. 1) Copyright ® 1986 by University Publications of America, Inc. All rights reserved. ISBN
    [Show full text]
  • 1 299 Literature Review the 1954 Supreme Court Ruling in Brown V
    1 299 Literature Review The 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education brought tremendous upheaval to the state of Virginia, which had operated under deep segregation for decades. Under the influence of an extremely conservative political machine headed by Democratic Senator Harry Flood Byrd, Virginia enacted a strategy of total opposition to the Court’s decision. The “massive resistance” movement, as Byrd called it, was loosely based on the doctrine of interposition and included several legislative attempts to impede integration in the state. Politicians sympathetic to the Byrd machine withheld state funding from integrated schools and created pupil assignment plans that awarded only a few token spots to black students at white schools. The movement, which most historians cite as taking place from 1954 to 1956, ultimately caused temporary school closings in Charlottesville, Norfolk, and Prince Edward County, Virginia. While much has been written on the aftermath of the Brown ruling in the South, relatively few monographs have been published about Virginia’s massive resistance in particular.1 The majority of books specifically dealing with Virginian resistance were published in the 1960s and 1970s, a trend that presumably occurred because of the large interest in school integration during the Civil Rights movement. Until recently, books concerning Virginia’s massive resistance sought to explain it only through the actions of conservative whites who adamantly opposed the 1 For an overview of resistance to desegregation in the South, see Reed Sarrait, The Ordeal of Desegregation: The First Decade (New York: Harper and Row, 1966); Numan V. Bartley, The Rise of Massive Resistance: Race and Politics in the South During the 1950’s (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1969); Francis M.
    [Show full text]
  • Scanned Using Book Scancenter 5131
    An Unseen Li^ht Black Struggles for Freedom in Memphis, Tennessee Edited by Aram Goudsouzian and Charles W. McKinney Jr. UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY “Since I Was a Citizen, I Had the Bight to Attend the Library” The Key Role of the Public Library in the Civil Rights Movement in Memphis Steven A. Knowlton Memphian Jesse Turner, an African American, wanted his wife to be able to use the library. Throughout the winter of 1949 Allegra Turner was in mourning for a younger brother who had been killed in a railroad accident. Looking for a diversion, Jesse Turner suggested that a visit to the library might help Mrs. Turner “become engrossed in both fun and facts.Mr. Turner, an officer at the Tri-State Bank located just a few blocks from the Cossitt Library on Front Street, had used the Memphis Public Library’s main branch (named for its benefactor, Frederick Cos­ sitt) in the past. Crucially, he had never sat down or tried to borrow a book. Due to a quirk in the rules of segregation, Jesse Turner had been allowed to stand in the reference section while he looked up a few facts in a book. Had he attempted to use the fuU range of the hbrary’s facilities, he would have known better than to suggest that Mrs. Turner would be welcome at the Cossitt Library downtown. i Her travails that day encapsulate the eyeryday realities of African American life in segregated Memphis. Allegra Turner, who was familiar with the workings of libraries from her days as a student and instructor at Southern University and the University of Chicago, entered the library and made straight for the card catalog.
    [Show full text]
  • Our Segregated Capital: an Increasingly Diverse City With
    Our Segregated Capital An Increasingly Diverse City with Racially Polarized Schools Gary Orfield & Jongyeon Ee February 2017 2 Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles Our Segregated Capital, February 2017 Table of Contents LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................................................... 4 LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................................................... 5 FOREWORD ............................................................................................................................................................... 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................... 11 BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT .......................................................................................................................... 15 WHY IT MATTERS: RESEARCH SHOWS POWERFUL INTEGRATION EFFECTS .................................................................... 16 THE HISTORY OF THE ISSUE IN WASHINGTON ...................................................................................................................... 19 CIVIL RIGHTS AND WASHINGTON SCHOOLS .......................................................................................................................... 21 THE JUDICIAL EFFORT: SERIOUS BUT TOO LATE .................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]