Southern Governors Meet And Resolve To Ignore The Supreme Court Degegregation Order

Richmond, VA Jun 10, 1954, in the weeks after the Supreme Court had handed down the Brown vs Board of Education decision ordering an end to racial segregation in all public schools in the United States there was turmoil and anger, especially of course in the Southern states.

In response on June 10, the governors of 15 southern states met collectively in Richmond to attempt to develop a united front to respond to the court’s order. There was virtually no consideration in voluntarily complying and desegregating their schools.

Along with the 15 governors, were the state's Attorney Generals and other legal counsel and staff. The conference was opened by the host Virginia Governor Thomas B. Stanley stated that his commitment to Virginia was to find a legal way to keep segregation and the “Separate but Equal” status in place since reconstruction.

Early in the conference the three border states of West Virginia, Maryland, and Kentucky bowed out of any resolution or activity that would defy the court. “Our problem is a little different from these fellows,” said West Virginia Governor William C. Marland. “Our issue is administrative while theirs is philosophical.”

This conference in many ways is one of the seeds of the modern issue of school choice and Nixon’s 1968 Southern Strategy. In fact, Georgia’s infamous governor Herman Talmadge spoke publicly and all but guaranteed that this would cost Eisenhower several states in 1956. “The decision will guarantee that every Southern state will go Democratic,” Talmadge said. “While there are 7 Democrats and only two Republicans on the court it is Earl Warren from California that Mr. Eisenhower appointed Chief Justice and he somehow wrote a decision that he pressured them to all go along with.” This reasoning is part of the reason Talmadge was so strongly connected with segregation and racism in his career. He had already gone so far as to say that it was possible Georgia would close schools rather than comply, the governors of South Carolina and Mississippi agreed with him on this.

This meeting was just the first in an ongoing series where the traditional Southern states confirmed their absolute commitment to segregation. Virginia’s Attorney General, Lindsay Almond Jr. had argued for Separate but Equal but even a loss did not deter him. “I believe much was accomplished,” said Almond “There were no differences between the states as to the difficulties we face, Virginia was a litigate before the court and we will continue to be until this is settled.” Eventually one of Virginia's ways of handling it was to shut down public and private schools from 1959 to 1964.

These high-profile leaders coming together to commit to racist policies in their states and using both their legal power and the political pulpit to create a climate of fear and intimidation both in real physical terms and in economic ways that would harm Black Americans and their children well into the 1970s far beyond the south. 

 Sources: 

The Roanoke Times ● Roanoke, Virginia ● Fri, Jun 11, 1954

The Daily Review ● Clinton Forge, Virginia ● Thur. Jun 10, 1954