Arlington County Public Schools: Desegregation Materials, 1943-1996
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CG-RG69
In the 1954 Brown vs. the Board of Education case, the Supreme Court declared the policy of segregated schools unconstitutional. In the face of this ruling and its implication for the integration of schools throughout the United States, many in Virginia attempted to block the desegregation of Virginia’s public schools.
Virginia politicians implemented several different strategies aimed at fighting desegregation. First, the General Assembly formed a commission headed by State Senator Garland Gray of Waverly. The Gray plan, submitted November 11, 1955, argued for two primary methods to avoid integration. One method called for divesting local school boards of the power to control pupil admittance and enrollment. This act called the Pupil Placement Act gave the Virginia Pupil Placement Board this responsibility. Using criteria other than race, pupils would be assigned to schools in such a way as to maintain segregation while appearing to comply with integration.
The second method supported in the Gray plan called for a tuition program for non-sectarian private schools. Under the plan, the public schools would integrate, but parents of white children would have an alternate place to send their children. The Gray plan sought ways to minimize the impact of the integration being forced upon Virginia by the Supreme Court.
After reviewing the Gray Commission, Governor Lindsey Almond decided to employ an even more aggressive plan called massive resistance. Massive resistance rejected integration and proposed that rather than submitting to integration Virginia would close the public schools. As a method of ensuring that local school districts complied with massive resistance, the Governor declared that any local school board that integrated would forfeit its state support.
Arlington County found itself in a difficult position. Following the 1954 decision, the Arlington County School Board had devised a three-year integration plan. The adoption of massive resistance forced Arlington to alter this plan. Many Arlingtonians opposed massive resistance. They did not want the public schools to close. Community efforts developed to fight massive resistance and allow Arlington to integrate. The Arlington Committee to Preserve Public Schools did not crusade against segregation, rather they fought to keep the public schools open. As other school districts also voiced opposition to closing their schools and the courts began to intervene, massive resistance failed.
Arlington became the first school district to integrate followed closely by Norfolk. On February 2, 1959, four black students integrated Stratford Junior High School. The integration of Arlington schools was accomplished without violence. The peaceful nature of the integration was attributed to the fact that the County already had biracial activities including many at area churches. In addition, the teachers and administrators at both the black and white schools had been attending integrated trainings and committee meetings since 1949, and had already fostered a working relationship. It took twelve years to fully integrate the Arlington County Public schools.
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Center for Local History, Arlington Public Library
Virginia politicians implemented several different strategies aimed at fighting desegregation. First, the General Assembly formed a commission headed by State Senator Garland Gray of Waverly. The Gray plan, submitted November 11, 1955, argued for two primary methods to avoid integration. One method called for divesting local school boards of the power to control pupil admittance and enrollment. This act called the Pupil Placement Act gave the Virginia Pupil Placement Board this responsibility. Using criteria other than race, pupils would be assigned to schools in such a way as to maintain segregation while appearing to comply with integration.
The second method supported in the Gray plan called for a tuition program for non-sectarian private schools. Under the plan, the public schools would integrate, but parents of white children would have an alternate place to send their children. The Gray plan sought ways to minimize the impact of the integration being forced upon Virginia by the Supreme Court.
After reviewing the Gray Commission, Governor Lindsey Almond decided to employ an even more aggressive plan called massive resistance. Massive resistance rejected integration and proposed that rather than submitting to integration Virginia would close the public schools. As a method of ensuring that local school districts complied with massive resistance, the Governor declared that any local school board that integrated would forfeit its state support.
Arlington County found itself in a difficult position. Following the 1954 decision, the Arlington County School Board had devised a three-year integration plan. The adoption of massive resistance forced Arlington to alter this plan. Many Arlingtonians opposed massive resistance. They did not want the public schools to close. Community efforts developed to fight massive resistance and allow Arlington to integrate. The Arlington Committee to Preserve Public Schools did not crusade against segregation, rather they fought to keep the public schools open. As other school districts also voiced opposition to closing their schools and the courts began to intervene, massive resistance failed.
Arlington became the first school district to integrate followed closely by Norfolk. On February 2, 1959, four black students integrated Stratford Junior High School. The integration of Arlington schools was accomplished without violence. The peaceful nature of the integration was attributed to the fact that the County already had biracial activities including many at area churches. In addition, the teachers and administrators at both the black and white schools had been attending integrated trainings and committee meetings since 1949, and had already fostered a working relationship. It took twelve years to fully integrate the Arlington County Public schools.