Editing Prince Edward County, Virginia (section)

===Massive Resistance===
{{Main|Massive Resistance}}
In 1956, the [[Virginia General Assembly]] passed a series of laws (the [[Stanley Plan]]) to implement [[Massive Resistance]], a policy promoted by the [[Byrd Organization]] led by U.S. Senator [[Harry F. Byrd]], to avoid compliance with the Supreme Court ruling in ''Brown'' and its direction to integrate public schools.

The state legislature (overwhelmingly dominated by whites since disfranchisement of African Americans in the state in the early 1900s) created a program of "tuition grants," which could be given to students so they could attend a private school of their choice. In practice, this meant state support of all-white schools that were developed as a way to evade integration of public schools. These newly formed schools became known as the "[[segregation academy|segregation academies]]".

As a result of the ''Brown'' decision, and changes in Virginia laws, in 1959, the Board of Supervisors for Prince Edward County refused to appropriate ''any'' funds at all for the County School Board. It effectively closed all public schools rather than integrate them. The [[Prince Edward County Public Schools]] remained closed for five years. While other Virginia and some southern school systems resisted integration, Prince Edward County was the only school district in the country to resort to such extreme measures.

During the interruption in access to Prince Edward County's public schools, white parents established the Prince Edward Foundation. It founded a series of private schools restricted to white children. These schools were supported by the tuition grants from the state and tax credits from the county. Collectively they became known as "[[Fuqua School|Prince Edward Academy]]", one of Virginia's "segregation academies". Prince Edward Academy operated as the ''[[de facto]]'' school system and enrolled K-12 students at a number of facilities throughout the county.

From 1959 to 1964, black students in Prince Edward County had to go to school elsewhere or forgo their education altogether. Some got schooling by living with relatives in nearby communities or at makeshift schools the community created in church basements. Others were educated out of state with funds raised by groups such as the [[Quakers]]. In the final year (1963–1964), the NAACP-sponsored [[Prince Edward Free School]] picked up some of the slack by educating some of the black youth who had been unable to leave the county to attend public schools elsewhere.

In 1963, federal district courts ordered the public schools to open; Prince Edward County appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Ruling in ''[[Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County]]'', the Court unanimously agreed in May 1964 that Prince Edward County's actions violated the [[Equal Protection Clause]] of the 14th Amendment. At that point, county and state supervisors gave in rather than risk prosecution and prison, ending the era of Massive Resistance in Virginia.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE5D81E3EF936A15752C0A963958260 | work=The New York Times | title=Albertis S. Harrison Jr., 88, Dies; Led Virginia as Segregation Fell | first=Wolfgang | last=Saxon | date=January 25, 1995}}</ref>

The same summer, following the Griffith ruling, 16 students from [[Queens College, City University of New York|Queens College (New York)]] ventured south to Prince Edward County during their "Student Help Project" Program, a precursor to the 1964 [[Mississippi Freedom Summer]]. The students served as teachers to the many African-American children who had been denied an education. These volunteers worked with the students to prepare them to resume classes when schools reopened that fall. The volunteers from Queens College were housed among leading African-American families in the county that summer. They used local churches as school houses during the week. Many of the students involved in the program have since donated their archives to the Queens College Department of Special Collections and Archives.<ref>[http://archives.qc.cuny.edu/civilrights/collections], Queens College, CUNY</ref>

As a result of Prince Edward County's actions, some students missed part or all of their education for five years. This group has been called the "Lost Generation" of Prince Edward County's youth.