(no subject)
In March, my workplace had our annual meeting at the Westin Alexandria Hotel in Alexandria, Virginia. Right out my window was a huge courthouse with a massive statue of "Justice" in front. It's the Albert V. Bryan, Sr. Federal Courthouse. Bryan was a famous judge in Virginia history. (His son is also a federal judge.) Notoriously curmudgeonly, Bible-thumping, and yet strictly adhering to the law, Bryan -- a segregationist Southerner -- helped desegregate Virginia schools in the 1950s and 1960s.
So, I figured, "Why not enhance the Wikipedia article about Judge Bryan? It's rinky-dink and not well-cited." I got to work on it. I ran right away into a term I had not heard before: "The Stanley Plan."
What the fuck was the Stanley Plan?
It turns out that the Stanley Plan was a series of bills advocated by Virginia Governor Thomas B. Stanley and enacted in a special session of the Virginia Assembly in September 1956. At the time, Virginia politics were dominated by Senator Harry F. Bryd, Sr. -- a Democrat and a dyed-in-the-wool racist. Outraged by the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, Byrd advocated "massive resistance" to any attempt to integrate Virginia public schools. Stanley was his stooge.
Now, Stanley was as inept a legislator and lawyer as there could be, and the plan he came up with was such a mess that even he abandoned it after a few weeks and embraced a mish-mash plan the legislature came up with.
The Stanley Plan, as enacted, was blatantly unconsitutional. Just four months after it was enacted, one of its major programs was declared null and void by a federal court. Stanley didn't give a shit, though: Virgina governers serve a single four-year term, and Stanley was already on his way out the door. Coming into the governorship was Virginia Attorney General J. Lindsay Almond, who had undermined the Stanley Plan as much as he could as attorney general.
Almond was elected governor in November 1957. He took office in January 1958. Within a year, "massive resistance" had collapsed.
I ended up writing a long article about the Stanley Plan.
The collapse of "massive resistance" is a shocking, suspense-filled, dramatic story. Even I get chills reading about it. In Arkansas, the governor had called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students from attending a single high school. President Eisenhower was forced to federalize the Arkansas Guard to get them to stand down, and it was not entirely clear for several days that they would obey. When the students were finally ready to start high school, the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division had to escort them into the high school under armed guard.
It was a tense, nail-biting period in American history.
Virginia, too, faced the possibility of armed resistance to the federal courts...
I bet most people have no clue what Virginia did.
I'm done with the article, almost. It's an incredible story.
So, I figured, "Why not enhance the Wikipedia article about Judge Bryan? It's rinky-dink and not well-cited." I got to work on it. I ran right away into a term I had not heard before: "The Stanley Plan."
What the fuck was the Stanley Plan?
It turns out that the Stanley Plan was a series of bills advocated by Virginia Governor Thomas B. Stanley and enacted in a special session of the Virginia Assembly in September 1956. At the time, Virginia politics were dominated by Senator Harry F. Bryd, Sr. -- a Democrat and a dyed-in-the-wool racist. Outraged by the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, Byrd advocated "massive resistance" to any attempt to integrate Virginia public schools. Stanley was his stooge.
Now, Stanley was as inept a legislator and lawyer as there could be, and the plan he came up with was such a mess that even he abandoned it after a few weeks and embraced a mish-mash plan the legislature came up with.
The Stanley Plan, as enacted, was blatantly unconsitutional. Just four months after it was enacted, one of its major programs was declared null and void by a federal court. Stanley didn't give a shit, though: Virgina governers serve a single four-year term, and Stanley was already on his way out the door. Coming into the governorship was Virginia Attorney General J. Lindsay Almond, who had undermined the Stanley Plan as much as he could as attorney general.
Almond was elected governor in November 1957. He took office in January 1958. Within a year, "massive resistance" had collapsed.
I ended up writing a long article about the Stanley Plan.
The collapse of "massive resistance" is a shocking, suspense-filled, dramatic story. Even I get chills reading about it. In Arkansas, the governor had called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students from attending a single high school. President Eisenhower was forced to federalize the Arkansas Guard to get them to stand down, and it was not entirely clear for several days that they would obey. When the students were finally ready to start high school, the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division had to escort them into the high school under armed guard.
It was a tense, nail-biting period in American history.
Virginia, too, faced the possibility of armed resistance to the federal courts...
I bet most people have no clue what Virginia did.
I'm done with the article, almost. It's an incredible story.