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Robert B. Crawford
(1895 - 1973)
Robert Crawford was a central figure in Virginia’s Massive Resistance movement, particularly in Prince Edward County, where he played a pivotal role in the county’s decision to close its public schools from 1959 to 1964 to avoid desegregation.
Born in 1895, Crawford was a businessman in Farmville, Virginia, operating a dry-cleaning business. He began his public service in 1931 as a member of the Prince Edward County School Board, a position he held for over three decades. His tenure coincided with significant events in the civil rights movement, including the 1951 student strike at Robert Russa Moton High School, which became part of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case.
In response to the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Crawford co-founded the Defenders of State Sovereignty and Individual Liberties in October 1954, a segregationist organization dedicated to preserving segregation in Virginia’s public schools. He served as the organization’s president, leading efforts to resist federally mandated desegregation.
Under Crawford’s leadership, the Defenders advocated for the Stanley Plan, a series of laws enacted in 1956 designed to maintain school segregation. These laws included provisions to close public schools that integrated and to provide tuition grants for white students to attend private, segregated academies. The Defenders’ influence was significant, with some historians suggesting they had “complete and full control of the political machinery of the state” regarding massive resistance policies.
As chairman of the Prince Edward County School Board, Crawford was instrumental in the county’s decision to close its public schools in 1959 rather than comply with desegregation orders. This action left black students without formal education for five years, while white students attended private, segregated academies funded by state tuition grants and private donations. The closures garnered national attention and were a stark example of the lengths to which some communities would go to resist integration.
The schools remained closed until 1964, when the U.S. Supreme Court, in Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, ruled that the county’s actions violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and ordered the public schools to reopen.