Race, Reason, and Massive Resistance: The Diary of David J. Mays, 1954-1959
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Description
This book is an edited version of the diary of David J. Mays, a prominent Richmond, Virginia attorney, from the spring of 1954 through the spring of 1959. Mays served as counsel to a legislative commission appointed by Governor Thomas Stanley to devise a response to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Mays provides an insider's view of the so-called Gray Commission which devised a plan that tacitly permitted token integration. He also comments on the rejection of that approach by the governor and others loyal to the state's dominant political leader, U. S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, who favored a policy of massive resistance to school desegregation. Mays correctly assesses the legal deficiencies of the massive resistance program which resulted in the closing of schools in three communities before it was declared unconstitutional by both state and federal courts.
ISBN
9780820330259
Publication Date
2008
Publisher
University of Georgia Press
City
Athens, Georgia
Keywords
David John Mays, Diaries, Lawyers, Massive resistance movement (Virginia), School integration
Disciplines
Civil Rights and Discrimination | Political History | Social History | United States History
Recommended Citation
Sweeney, James R. (Editor), "Race, Reason, and Massive Resistance: The Diary of David J. Mays, 1954-1959" (2008). History Faculty Bookshelf. 34.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/history_books/34