COUNTIES IN WHICH DESEGREGATION IS IN EFFECT, SPRING, 1960

COUNTIES IN WHICH DESEGREGATION IS IN EFFECT, SPRING, 1960

This map shows the counties with desegregation in effect as of spring 1960. The states with the most counties integrated with actual black pupils in schools or non-discriminatory acceptance were Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. States with one or more counties integrated included Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina had no integrated counties. In Virginia, Warren County and Floyd County had official policies of integration, along with the independent cities of Charlottesville, Norfolk, Alexandria, and Arlington County. While integration may have been federal policy, for years after the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision many states and school systems resisted integration. For example, while Charlottesville, Norfolk, Warren County, and Arlington County may have been federally ordered to integrate in 1958, local and state officials resisted. Most of Virginia participated in Massive Resistance for many years, spearheaded by Senator Harry Byrd. In 1959 Prince Edward County closed their schools for five years, and several school districts such as Charlottesville and Warren County were closed for shorter periods.

Additional resource: Information Obtained from a review of The Crisis of Conservative Virginia: The Byrd Organization and the Politics of Massive Resistance by James W. Ely, Jr by Bruce A. Glasrud and the Encyclopedia of Virginia.

Swem Special Collections

1960

Noella Handley and Cathy Xiong, description
Ari Weinberg, metadata