Conversation

In the 1950s, rather than integrate its public schools, Virginia closed them

The state’s policy of ‘Massive Resistance’ exemplifies the incendiary combination of race and education in the US

by Susan Smith-Richardson and Lauren Burke. Photographs by Christopher 'Puma' Smith
Sat 27 Nov 2021 06.00 EST

Not long after Patricia Turner and a handful of Black students desegregated Norview junior high school in Norfolk, Virginia, she realized a big difference between her new white school and her former Black school. That February of 1959, she didn’t have to wear a coat in class to stay warm, because Norview was heated.

She hadn’t noticed the difference earlier because of the steady volley of racism directed at her, Turner said. A teacher put her papers in a separate box and returned them wearing rubber gloves. (He later wrote her an apology letter.) And her fellow students spat on her.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/27/integration-public-schools-massive-resistance-virginia-1950s