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DOCUMENTS
Congressional Record
1961
In short, the NAACP is more interested in the integration of public school children than it is in the education of colored children…
— Harry F. Byrd
Congressional Record, May 17th 1961
In 1961, Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia delivered a speech in the Senate defending Prince Edward County’s decision to close its public schools rather than integrate them. This action was a response to court orders mandating desegregation following the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Byrd’s speech, published in the Congressional Record, defended the county’s stance as a matter of states’ rights and local control over education.
This speech supported the actions of the white leaders of Prince Edward County and dismissed the charges of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Byrd saw the NAACP as a threat to the well-being and tranquility of the country, an outside organization that interfered in southern communities. The NAACP, he stated, “neither provide for education of their children nor accept assistance from the white people of the county [the NAACP] is more interested in the integration of public school children than it is in the education of colored children.” In contrast, Byrd cited the founding of the Southside Schools, Inc Corporation led by R.B. Hargrove and intended to provide segregated education for the black children in Prince Edward.
Congressional Record, May 17th 1961