Virginia Massive Resistance and Little Rock and the Lost Year Tessa Dallo The Gray Commission • Thomas B Stanley, governor of Virginia, appointed 32 state lawmakers to make a plan of response to the decision of Brown II. • They were all white, male Americans. • Their plan allowed for integraon, but its overall goal was to slow its process. • When a Washington county announced it was going to integrate its school systems, state legislators did what they could to nullify the Supreme Court’s ruling. The Stanley Plan • When the Gray plan failed, governor Stanley created the Stanley Plan. • Stanley was concerned that if one school integrated, the surrounding schools would integrate as well because of a domino effect. • African Americans were suing school districts throughout the state because Virginia would not permit integrated public schools. Governor Stanley revised his plan in late 1956 to: • Require that if a school official assigned a black pupil to a white school, that official would be suspended. • Give the governor the authority to inves@gate assignment of black pupils to white schools, and ask black students to return to their original all-black school. • Allow the closure of either a single classroom in a white school or the en@re school itself, if integraon occurred. • Give the governor the authority to reassign students to new schools if a school was ordered to integrate or voluntarily integrated. • Create tui@on grants to encourage black students to leave white schools. • Permit the governor to withhold state funds from any school district where segregaon had failed. Actions of the Massive Resistance • These strict ac@ons against integraon are known as the Massive Resistance. • J Lindsay Almond, an ac@ve supporter of the Massive Resistance, shut down mul@ple schools and locked out over 13,000 students. • Even when Almond was told his ac@ons were harmful to the state and its economy, he would not reopen the schools. Actions of the Massive Resistance • White parents who favored integraon started the Virginia CommiSee for Public Schools to help with the integraon crisis. • In January of 1959, the Virginia Supreme Court agreed that Almond closing public schools was highly uncons@tu@onal. • Almond repealed aspects of the Stanley Plan and created a plan of his own. The Perrow Plan • This plan was created by the Almond Administraon and it relied on a parent’s “freedom of choice.” • The parent would decide where they want their child to go to school. • “Freedom of choice” was created to avoid compliance with integraon. • Although many people s@ll advocated for Massive Resistance, the Perrow Plan became law in 1959. • But it wasn’t un@l 1964 that all schools finally allowed integraon. • Prince Edward County kept its school’s doors shut for years aer the Perrow Plan became law just so they did not have to integrate. Green v. New Kent County • It was not un@l this case that “freedom of choice” was abolished. • The Supreme Count ordered the School Board of New Kent County to create a new plan towards realis@cally conver@ng to an integrated school system. Green v. New Kent County • In Kent County, about half of the resident were white and half were black. • In addi@on, there were only two schools: the New Kent School for white students and the George W. Watkins School for black students. • When 35 black students transferred to the previously all-white school, they were harassed and administrators did not seem to care. • New Kent changed its school system by grade level instead of race: George W. Watkins Elementary School, and New Kent High School. The Blossom Plan • This plan allowed for a school’s superintendent to chose which African American students to integrate into previously all-white schools. • The purpose of this was to comply as liSle as possible to the standards of integraon. • Although the Naonal Administraon for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP, sued for immediate integraon, the federal court claimed the plan was cons@tu@onal. The Capital Citizens’ Council • The CCC was created in support against integraon. • They organized rallies where speakers tried to promote white supremacy and segregaon. Mother’s League of Central High School • In order to aract feminists, the CCC created the Mother’s League of Central High School. • Only 20% of its members were actually mothers of Central High Schoolers. • The school district feared the CCC and the MLCHS because they incited violence. Central High School Incident • On September 4, 1957 Governor Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas Naonal Guard to surround Central High School to prevent violence. • Instead of guarding the African American students as they entered the school, the Naonal Guard was in place to prevent their entry. • 9 African American students aempted to enter the school, but they were stopped by an angry crowed of white students and parents and the Arkansas Naonal Guard. The Little Rock Nine • The LiSle Rock Nine faced by both verbal and physical harassment in Central High School. • Teachers ignored these nine students and any harmful ac@ons inflicted on them. • They were not allowed to par@cipate in any extra curricular ac@vi@es either. Eisenhower’s Intervention • A\er the nine African American students made it into Central High School one day aer the Arkansas Naonal Guard was called off, an angry crowd erupted. • This event caught the aen@on of Eisenhower because it challenged the authority of the federal government. • Eisenhower ordered about 1,200 troops to LiSle Rock and on September 25, 1957 the nine students were escorted into Central High School by US Soldiers. • They were also escorted to each class they had by the soldiers as well. Eisenhower’s Intervention • Eisenhower took the Arkansas Naonal Guard out of the power of the governor and into his power. • For the remainder of the students’ school year, the Naonal Guard stayed at the school to protect the LiSle Rock Nine. Cooper v. Aaron • This was a landmark decision which held that the states are bound by the Court's decisions and must enforce them even if they disagree with them. • The Supreme Court ruled that integraon must take place immediately. • In response, governor Faubus closed down all of the high schools in LiSle Rock and they remained closed for the year. Act 115 and Act 110 • Act 115 banned NAACP members from being employed by the state of Arkansas. • Act 110 required state employees to state if they were a member of the NAACP • They were created to in@midate the NAACP. Other Protests and Actions • Public facili@es and transport were also integrated in the 50s and 60s: • Montgomery Bus BoycoS • Freedom Rides • These led to the creaon of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. • Vo@ng Rights were also focused on: • Freedom Summer • Other various organized campaigns • These led to the Vo@ng Rights Act of 1965. Cited Sources • Eisenhower Address on LiSle Rock Integraon Problem . Perf. Dwight D. Eisenhower. 1957. News Broadcast. YouTube. Taylor F., 2 Jan. 2013. Web. 3 May 2017. <hSps://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=8bzmtkhXAno • Eskridge, Sara K. "Thomas B. Stanley (1890–1970)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Foundaon for the Humani@es, 30 Dec. 2014. Web. 28 Apr. 2017. • FREEDOM RIDERS, 1961. - The wreckage of a Greyhound bus carrying Freedom Riders aer it had been destroyed by a fire bomb near Anniston, Alabama, 14 May 1961.. Fine Art. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 25 May 2016. quest.eb.com/search/ 140_1683643/1/140_1683643/cite. Accessed 2 May 2017. • Mitch. "Inalienable means ALL of us!!" Adventures of a Middle Aged Geek. Mitch, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2017. <hSp://www.middleagedgeek.net/?paged=2>. • NAACP Centennial Conven@on. Photographer. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 25 May 2016. quest.eb.com/search/115_2223724/1/115_2223724/cite. Accessed 2 May 2017. • Rogers, Mark, and Peter Clinton. Rights and Protest. Oxford: Oxford U Press, n.d. Print. Oxford IB Diploma Program. .