This week is the 70th anniversary of the Brown versus Board decision that led to the desegregation of public schools in Virginia and across the country. It was only the first step in a long process in the Commonwealth.
This is how Virginia Governor Lindsay Almond responded to the 1954 Supreme Court decision declaring segregated schools unconstitutional.
"As governor of this state, I will not yield to that which I know to be wrong and will destroy every rational semblance of public education for thousands of the children of Virginia," Almond said. "I call upon the people of Virginia to stand firmly with me in this struggle."
Many Virginians stood with Almond in an effort that became known as massive resistance – shutting down public schools for years rather than integrating them. They eventually lost that fight to people like Lester Banks of the Virginia NAACP.
"We oppose all plans having for their purpose obstruction to the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States requiring that public schools become desegregated with all deliberate speed," Banks said.
One of the five cases combined in Brown v Board was a lawsuit from Virginia – Davis versus the Prince Edward School Board – a legal battle that started with a student protest of tar paper shacks at a high school in Farmville.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
