Massive Resistance in Virginia

What Historians do

Make Choices

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AnalyzeSynthesizeEmpathizeGeneralizeQuestion

How Historians choose...  

What interests them? What questions to ask?What lenses to use?What perspectives to seek?Where to start?

What interests me?

Indignation

I can't believe....!How could they...?Why didn't someone...?

Where my questions come from

Virginia

I lived there

Harry Flood Byrd Sr.From the Encyclopedia Virginia: Throughout his career, he leveraged the power of a statewide political

organization that bore his name—the Byrd Organization—to make a lasting mark on Virginia and Virginia politics.

Harry Flood Byrd Middle School

Portrait by Helen Schuyler Bailey

From the Wiki I wrote in Middle SchoolControversy Some controversy has arisen in relation to the naming of the school. Harry Flood Byrd was a leader of the Virginia Massive Resistance movement after Brown v. Board of Education ordered the integration of schools in 1954. Massive resistance did great damage to racial relations in Virginia by singling out the black population and treating them as second class citizens. "For a period of five years, 1959-1964, public education was denied to more than 2,000 African-American children and a number of poor white children who, with only a few exceptions, remained unschooled." [1] Some see the naming of a prominent middle school after a leader who kept so many students from receiving an education and who strongly supported keeping black students as second class citizens to be offensive.

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Flood_Byrd_Middle_School

Mills E. Godwin High School

Governor of Virginia 1966-70 and 74-78

How could they...

be so racist?be so near sighted?threaten public schooling?intentionally deprive the poor of an education?

Why didn't someone...

stop them?speak out against their policies?vote them out of office?

I can't believe...

they got away with it.how bad they sound.that people still managed to get schools named after them.

What questions did I ask?

What does "Massive Resistance" mean?When did it happen?Who uses the term?Why/when do they use it?

Who was Harry Flood Byrd Sr.?What did he do? Why was he important?

What was the Byrd Machine?What did it do? Why was it important?

What questions did I ask?

Who has written about this stuff?When did they write? Why did they write?

How do people use massive resistance now?What does it mean for politics now?

What does "Massive Resistance" mean?• Broad term• Varied usage• Generally 1956 to 1960

What does "Massive Resistance" mean?Three stages1. Disarray/Disbelief/Politically unprepared – Varied concrete strategies

o Interpositiono Pupil Placement boardso Citizens Councilso School Closingo Private Schools

 3. Loss of Coherence and Dignity

Who uses the term? When? Why?

• Scholarso From then till nowo To focus their writing

• Politicianso Then: 

to galvanize voters to shame other politicians

o Since: to galvanize voters to shift blame

• Resisters (writers, voters, community leaders)o Necessarily during Massive resistanceo to "unify" the South

Who uses the term? When? Why?

• Harry Flood Byrd Sr.o February 24, 1956o Good question

Who was Harry Flood Byrd Sr.?

• Life Time: June 10, 1887 – October 20, 1966• Family: Descended from a "first" family

o Robert "king" Cartero William Byrd IIo Important to Virginia's Politicso Wealthy

• 50th Governor of Virginia (1926-1930)• US Senator from Virginia (1933-1965)

What did he do?

• Led a relatively progressive bloc of Virginia's Democratic machine

• Instituted "Pay as you go" fiscal policy• Pushed a prominent anti-lynching law through VA legislature• Consolidated Democratic party power

Why was he important to Massive Resistance?• Early adopter of the term• Senator at the time• Lead the Byrd Machine

What was the Byrd Machine?

• A systematized way of doing politics• First established by J. Harvey Wilkinson • "Byrd consolidated nearly one hundred bureaus, boards and

departments, previously independent of the governor, into fourteen departments directly subject to the governor’s control. The number of state-wide elected officers was reduced from seven to three.”

• Political power tied to loyalty• Under and over-representation• State Board of Compensation paid local officials• 3 month in advance poll tax• Literacy test

What did it do?

• Maintained a powerful grip on Virginia politics• Assured local democratic control• Acted as force for conservatism• Kept the political power of the state in the hands of old

Southside  families• Fully supported Massive Resistance

Why was it important?

• Reason for Massive Resistance taking hold• Reason for the marginalization of moderates• Reason for the lack of black, poor, and urban voting power

Who has written about this stuff? When? Why?• Benjamin Muse

o Virginia's Massive Resistance (1961)o Liberal Washington Post writero Saw Massive resistance as a desperate political gamble 

• Newman V. Bartleyo The rise of massive resistance: race and politics in the

south during the 1950s (1969)o Professor at  The University of Georgia o A scholarly work focusing on leading political figures of

the time

Who has written about this stuff? When? Why?• Matthew D. Lassiter, Andrew B. Lewis

o The moderates' dilemma: massive resistance to school desegregation in Virginia (1998)

o Two scholars compiling articleso Early attempts to examine the role of grassroots action 

• George Lewiso Massive Resistance: The White Response to the Civil

Rights Movement (2006)o British professor of American Historyo Covers more than Virginia under the heading of Massive

Resistanceo Focuses on non-governmental organizations

So what now?

• Blame• Guilt• Names• Identity• Politics• Race• Education