In 1954, the Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision in Brown vs Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas, ruling that segregation of schools was unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment. This bolstered the cause of integration.
In the same year, however, one powerful U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr. and his equally influential political organization widely promoted and campaigned for the so-called “Southern Manifesto” that opposed integration in schools. In 1956, more than one hundred government officials signed the manifesto. This turn of events led to what was later known as ‘Massive Resistance,’ a group of legislative acts ratified in 1958 and aimed to prevent integration of the schools. This body of laws clearly aimed to perpetuate racial segregation in the US, rendering a severe blow to the integration movement.
But history speaks for itself. African-American courage eventually overturned ‘Massive Resistance,’ though with much difficulty. Besides, the racial discriminatory image of the United States was already affecting then US President Eisenhower’s image abroad, so his government had to step in and rectify the negative image.
The movement of integration in the United States, particularly in the South, went through extremely rough sailing. For African-American victims of racial discrimination, it looked like it was impossible to achieve equality for their race. However, blacks were still citizens of the United States, first and foremost, that is why the US government, long touted to be a great democracy, did not really have much choice but to take it upon itself to protect blacks, along with the whites. Not seeing this fact and eventuality was the fatal flaw of ‘Massive Resistance.’
Via Chrysler Museum of Art/The Library of Virginia
