Date of Award

1991

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

History

Abstract

This thesis traces the origins of integration in Virginia's public schools from a strike for equal facilities by black students in Prince Edward County in 1951 to Governor Almond's capitulation of the resistance movement in 1959. The 1951 student strike became a law suit challenging the constitutionality of Virginia's segregation laws. It was one of four cases heard collectively before the United States Supreme Court in 1954 as Brown v. Board of Education. Virginia resisted the Court's decision until 1959.

The thesis relied upon newspaper accounts and personal interviews. It concluded that a fear of amalgamation of the races and a lack of support for education were principal causes for the resistance movement.

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History Commons

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