Larry J. Sabato: FIFTY YEARS LATER: REVISITING THE LEGACY OF MASSIVE RESISTANCE
The following article is the unedited version of a commentary piece as submitted to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Fifty years have now passed since the dark days of Massive Resistance, when public schools in some Virginia localities were shuttered rather than integrated.
Virginia has had an overall proud and constructive history; yet except for the original sin of slavery, Massive Resistance is the most indelible stain on the state’s soul.
When today’s young people are told about the school closings, they are astonished. In retrospect, it is almost unbelievable–even for those of us who lived through the era–to accept that public education ceased in order to prevent “the mixing of the races.”
But the nightmare was all too real. I was a young boy growing up in Norfolk when my father told me that my cousins were no longer able to attend school. Even as a youngster I had noticed the commotion, as well as the separate water fountains and the “Impeach Earl Warren” billboards. One Sunday, an African-American serviceman came to religious services. As he sat down, every white person in the pew moved. I was five or six years old, but I still vividly recall the anguish and humiliation on the man’s face. This happened in a church, and this gentleman was serving our country.