Massive Resistance in Virginia William G. Thomas III HIST 604 The Civil Rights Movement in U.S. and Virginia History

Massive Resistance in Virginia

William G. Thomas IIIHIST 604 The Civil Rights Movement in U.S. and Virginia History


The Problem of ImplementationInitial Resistance

Gray CommissionInterpositionSpecial SessionAlmond-Dalton

Crisis in the SchoolsClosings in VirginiaPerrow Commission

InterpretationsSarah Patton Boyle, Benjamin MuseJ. Harvie Wilkinson, James Ely

Conclusion


VS.9-The student will demonstrate knowledge of twentieth century Virginia by

G) describing the economic and social transition from a rural, agricultural society to a more urban, industrialized society, including the reasons people came to Virginia from other states and countries;H) identifying the social and political events in Virginia linked to desegregation and Massive Resistance and their relationship to national history;I) identifying the political, social, and/or economic contributions made by Maggie Walker, Harry F. Byrd, Sr., Arthur R. Ashe, Jr., and L. Douglas Wilder.

Massive Resistance in VirginiaCE2- The student will demonstrate knowledge of the foundations of American constitutional government by

A) explaining the fundamental principles of consent of the governed, limited government, rule of law, democracy, and representative government;B) explaining the significance of the charters of the Virginia Company of London, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and the Constitution of the United States, including the Bill of

Rights;C) identifying the purposes for the Constitution of the United States as they are stated in its Preamble


A) explaining the relationship of state governments to the national government in the federal system;

B) describing the structure and powers of local, state and national governments;

C) explaining the principle of separation of powers and the operation of checks and balances;

D) identifying the procedures for amending the Constitution of the United States.

CE6- The student will demonstrate knowledge of the American constitutional government by


E) explaining the lawmaking process;F) describing the roles and powers of the executive

branchG) examining the impact of the media on public opinion

and public policy;H) describing how individuals and interest groups

influence public policy.

CE7- The student will demonstrate knowledge of how public policy is made at local, state, and national levels of government by


A) describing the organization and jurisdiction of federal

and state courtsB) describing the exercise of judicial review;C) explaining court proceedings in civil and criminal

cases;D) explaining how due process protections seek to

ensure justice.

CE8- The student will demonstrate knowledge of judicial systemsestablished by the Constitution of Virginia and the Constitution of the United States

Massive Resistance in VirginiaGOVT8- The student will demonstrate knowledge of the organization and powers of the state and local governments described in the Constitution of Virginia by

D) examining the legislative, executive, and judicial branches;E) examining the structure and powers of local governments:county, city, and town;F) analyzing the relationship among state and local governments

Massive Resistance in VirginiaGOVT9- The student will demonstrate knowledge of the processby which public policy is made by

I) examining different perspectives on the role of government;J) examining how local, state, and national governments formulate policy;K) describing the process by which policy is implemented by bureaucracy at each level;L) analyzing how individuals, interest groups, and the mediainfluence public policy

Massive Resistance in Virginia"Strike Against Jackie Spiked," 1947

From The Baltimore Afro-American, May 17, 1947.

The strike, instigated by a small bloc of St. Louis Cardinal players who had fantastic visions of a general walkout later, was checked by League President Ford Frick and Cardinal owner Sam Breadon. Both denied this, however. . . .

Whether Frick talked to the players in person or whether he sent them a written message, could not be confirmed when the Dodgers arrived here Friday to open a four-game series with the Phillies. But it is a known fact that he told the St. Louis team:

"If you do this (strike) you will be suspended from the league. You will find that the friends you think you have in the press box will not support you, that you will be outcasts. I do not care if half the league strikes. Those who do it will encounter quick retribution. All will be suspended and I don't care if it wrecks the National League for five years. This is the United States of America and one citizen has as much right to play as another.

"The National League will go down the line with Robinson whatever the consequences. You will find if you go through with your intention that you have been guilty of complete madness."

Massive Resistance in VirginiaThe Right of Interposition, 1955

From The Richmond News Leader, November 22, 1955, and November 29, 1955.

... What we must ask ourselves as Virginians, as heirs to the philosophical inheritance of Jefferson and Madison, is whether any means exist by which this "process of judiciallegislation" may be brought to a pause. If the "most fundamental of the rights of the States and of their citizens" are not to be swept away by judicial encroachment, and the States reduced to the status of mere counties, must we not exert every possible effort to halt the courts in their usurpation of our sovereign powers? . . .

And in such an emergency, these great men asserted, the States may declare their inherentright--inherent in the nature of our Union--to judge for themselves not merely of the infractions but "of the mode and measure of redress."

This is the right of interposition.


Interposition, Now! Responsibility Lies Upon the Legislature

From The Richmond News Leader, November 22, 1955, and November 29, 1955.

... We know these things, but others do not know. And the second advantage of the proposed resolution is that Virginia, by the adoption of such a resolution, might succeed in elevating this controversy from the regional field of segregation to the transcendent, national field of State sovereignty. There is a tactical advantage in higher ground, and we would do well to seek it. . . .

The doctrine of interposition. . . rests not on expediency but on fundamental principles.

Massive Resistance in VirginiaSouthern Manifesto, 1956

From Congressional Record, 84th Congress Second Session. Vol. 102, part 4 (March 12, 1956). Washington, D.C.: Governmental Printing Office, 1956. 4459-4460.

. . . . The unwarranted decision of the Supreme Court in the public school cases is now bearing the fruit always produced when men substitute naked power for established law.

We regard the decisions of the Supreme Court in the school cases as a clear abuse of judicialpower. It climaxes a trend in the Federal Judiciary undertaking to legislate, in derogation ofthe authority of Congress, and to encroach upon the reserved rights of the States and the people.

We pledge ourselves to use all lawful means to bring about a reversal of this decision whichis contrary to the Constitution and to prevent the use of force in its implementation.

In this trying period, as we all seek to right this wrong, we appeal to our people not to be provoked by the agitators and troublemakers invading our States and to scrupulously refrainfrom disorder and lawless acts.


Senate Resolution No. 14, by direction of which this report is being prepared, instructed the committee to include in its report "such statistical, and narrative material, dealing with the public schools of Virginia and the problems attendant upon compulsory integration of the races therein, as shall, in the committee's opinion, be calculated best to inform sister States and the public generally of the nature of theschool problem before us." It is with no wish to offend Virginia's Negro people,who include among their number many valuable citizens, that the committee submitdata to support their profound conviction that the two races ought not to be mingled in the intimacy of the public schools of this Commonwealth. The schools offer anexperience that is not educative alone, but social also; they bring together young people in the formative years of their adolescence, before they have had an opportunity to fashion a bridle of maturity by which the passions and impulses of inexperience may be governed. . . .

The Doctrine of Interposition, Its History and Application: A report on SenateJoint Resolution 3, General Assembly of Virginia 1956, Commonwealth of Virginia


. . .The palpable differences between white and Negro children in intellectual aptitudes have been demonstrated repeatedly by careful examinations conducted by responsible educational authorities. A summary of recent findings in this regard appears in the Appendix. To bring together such disparate groups in a massive integration of classrooms (and in the smaller, rural counties, having only two or three high schools, massive integration could not be avoided by any devices of gerrymandering), would be to create an educational choas, impossible of satisfactory administration, which would lower the educational level for white children and inevitably create race consciousness and racial tensions. A more cruel imposition upon the children of both races, and upon the tranquility of their communities, could not be imagined.

The Doctrine of Interposition, Its History and Application: A report on SenateJoint Resolution 3, General Assembly of Virginia 1956, Commonwealth of Virginia

Massive Resistance in Virginia. . . In the teeth of history and in contempt of long-established constitutionally sanctioned law, the Southern States are advised that an amendment of 1868 really was intended to prohibit to them the power to operate racially separate schools. This was discovered 86 years after the amendment was ratified.

With the soothing assurance that this is all for our own good, our judicial surgeons have prescribed a massive political blood-letting; and it is not the South only that is being leeched: it is the whole body of the Republic.Weakened by this cynical phlebotomy, enervated by sweet anesthetic, the States gradually are declining to the insignificant role of dependent Federal satellites-mere municipal provinces of Washington, suburbs of the Capital. They are being drained of the vitality that has contributed so greatly to the Nation's strength, and the pity is that an apathetic people lie indifferent to the enveloping evil.. . .

Inaugural Address of J.Lindsay Almond, Jr. Governor to the General Assembly and the People of Virginia Saturday, January 11, 1958

Massive Resistance in Virginia. . . I do not think the people of Virginia are indifferent! They have not exhibited indifference these past three years. They have exhibited, on the contrary, by their own expression at the polls and through their representatives in the

Assembly and in Constitutional Convention, not a willingness to surrender to usurped authority, but a determination to resist. That determination must not falter now.

Inaugural Address of J.Lindsay Almond, Jr. Governor to the General Assembly and the People of Virginia Saturday, January 11, 1958

Documents

Massive Resistance in Virginia William G. Thomas III HIST 604 The Civil Rights Movement in U.S. and Virginia History