Friday, March 7, 2025

Question: Who launched Virginia’s Massive Resistance movement against integrating schools in the 1950s?

Answer: Sen. Harry F. Byrd, Sr. His political machine opposed integrated schools and worked to pass laws that preserved segregation in the face of federal intervention, even going so far as to make it legal to close integrated public schools entirely. The movement was stopped by rulings of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and a federal court.