"An almost endless variety of methods" for non-compliance
White Mississippi's response to Brown v. Board of Education
After school segregation was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, many southern states employed a variety of legal maneuvers to avoid or, at least, delay compliance with the court order.
When asked about Mississippi’s response, one state official said the state could postpone integration for another “50 or 75 years” because Mississippi legislators had “an almost endless variety of methods” available to them to kick the can of compliance down the road. Mississippians, this state official noted, could avoid integrating their classrooms by doing something like constructing one high school with two buildings. According to the official, “Negroes would go to one building of the high school, whites to another.” In other words, the state could just figure out ways to address the integration issue without really addressing it.
Another strategy for non-compliance with Brown Mississippians could use would be to simply dissolve their public schools. The Supreme Court ruled on Brown in May 1954. By December 1954, the Mississippi legislature had proposed a constitutional amendment that would remove the state’s constitutional obligation to provide some form of free, public schooling to its citizens.
According to Mississippi Governor Hugh L. White, the amendment would give the state legislature direct authority to operate the public schools. And, by extension, the governor was quick to point out that:
It would authorize the Legislature by two-thirds vote of those present and voting in each house to abolish the public schools in the state, should the need arise. It would [also] authorize the Legislature to enact legislation through which the counties and school districts might abolish public schools, should the need arise.
In the event the Mississippi legislature decided to abolish the public schools, the governor pointed out that the amendment “would authorize the Legislature to appropriate funds in order to finance the education of the educable school children of the state.” This proposed constitutional amendment would give the Mississippi legislature the authority to replace the state’s public schools with a private ones. Here’s how the governor put it:
It [the amendment] is not a threat to public education. It is my view that under it the people can continue to expect the operation of public schools in the State of Mississippi, and that, if our separate public school system is destroyed by the federal courts—not by the Mississippi Legislature—our people can still continue to have their children educated in separate schools, at state expense, through a system operated under provisions of this constitutional amendment.
This strategy was the no segregation, no public schools response to Brown. And, regardless of Governor White’s assurance that all Mississippians could continue to educate their children in separate private schools should the state end up closing the public schools, it’s clear the governor was only talking to and about white Mississippians. According to the governor, the Mississippi legislature would be authorized to disperse money only for the private education of the “educable school children of the state.” And, in 1950s Jim Crow Mississippi, the word “educable” was a dog-whistle. It acted as a racial code word. The white supremacist politics of the Mississippi legislature would prioritize and ensure the funding for private education of white Mississippians—at the expense of all other citizens of the state, especially the state’s Black citizens.
These “let’s build a school with one building for Black students and another one for white students” and “why don’t we just abolish the public schools and replace them with private ones” methods for non-compliance with Brown weren’t the only massive resistance ploys attempted by the southern states. In an essay in History of Education Quarterly, educationalist Michael Fultz pointed out that by 1957:
8 Southern states passed states’ rights interposition resolutions, while 2 others passed manifestos of protest; 4 states abolished their constitutional requirements for public education; 6 states passed legislation denying funds to schools which desegregated; and 11 states repealed or modified compulsory attendance laws.
So, even though the tools for non-compliance were many and were varied across the southern states, the goals were the same: avoid integration at all cost. By upholding white supremacy and perpetuating injustice, many white southerners roadblocked democratic society.
Post-Brown school desegregation wasn’t just a conversation about education, classroom resources, or whose kids could go to which schools. It was also a conversation about democracy, justice, and the values that define American society. We must continue to confront this history because the white supremacist politics of folks like Governor Hugh L. White of Mississippi still lingers in the politics of today. And, of course, this politics still leaves a trail of destruction along the way: damaging our democratic aspirations, throwing up obstacles to building a socially just America, and depriving us of our shared humanity.
More to come soon…
Primary Sources
“Showdown Could Be Postponed 75 Years, State Official Says.” Hattiesburg American. May 18, 1954.
“White says state fighting to survive in school vote.” The Clarion-Ledger. December 17, 1954.
Secondary Sources
Fultz, Michael. “The Displacement of Black Educators Post-Brown: An Overview and Analysis.” History of Education Quarterly 44, no. 1 (Spring 2004): 11-45.