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Context
On May 17, 1954, after nearly two decades of legal challenges against racial segregation in public schools and higher education, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas that school segregation was unconstitutional. The decision paved the way for the desegregation of educational institutions. Prior to Brown v. Board of Education decision, legal segregation had existed under the "separate but equal" doctrine as established by the Supreme Court's 1896 ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate facilities for white and Black Americans did not violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. However, the separate educational facilities the southern states provided for African American students were inferior, not equal, to those designed for white students.
On the day of the Supreme Court ruling, Governor Thomas B. Stanley addressed Virginians over Richmond radio station WRVA. In these brief remarks, he urged Virginians to remain calm while political leaders worked to take appropriate action. He expressed a desire to meet with white and Black leaders to discuss the issue.
However, Governor Stanley's moderate response did not last long. Some white Virginians wrote to him demanding that school segregation continue, and some Virginia politicians, including United States Senator Harry F. Byrd, made it clear that the state would not accept desegregation. Stanley created a commission composed of 32 white men to respond to the Brown decision. The commission created a pupil placement plan that would enable cities and counties to severely limit school desegregation if they chose to, but it was not adopted. Instead, in 1956 Virginia's General Assembly adopted a policy of Massive Resistance to desegregation, using the law and courts to avoid complying with the Supreme Court's mandate to integrate.
Citation: Governor Thomas B. Stanley Response to the United States Supreme Court Decision in Brown v. Board of Education. May 17, 1954 (WRVA–386). WRVA Radio Collection, Accession 38210, Library of Virginia.
Related Document Bank entries:
Governor Stanley's Address to the General Assembly, August 27, 1956, and the Voices Not Heard
Interposition and Massive Resistance, 1955
Standards
Suggested Questions
Preview Activity
Think about It: The concept of desegregating schools was controversial during the1950s and 1960s in Virginia. Based on your reading and studies, why do you think this was the case? List two or three possible reasons.
Post Activities
Social Media Spin: Create a social media post that you would have shared if you were an organization leader or supporter of school integration.
Be the Journalist: Imagine you are a reporter covering Governor Stanley’s response in 1954. What questions you would ask him? Why?
Listen to the Language: Listen to Governor Stanley's 1954 address to Virginians and his 1956 address to the General Assembly. What is different about his two speeches?