<P> Massive resistance was a strategy declared by U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd , Sr. of Virginia along with his brother - in - law as the leader in the Virginia General Assembly , Democrat Delegate James M. Thomson of Alexandria , to unite white politicians and leaders in Virginia in a campaign of new state laws and policies to prevent public school desegregation , particularly after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in 1954 . Many schools , and even an entire school system , were shut down in 1958 and 1959 in attempts to block integration , before both the Virginia Supreme Court and a special three - judge panel of Federal District judges from the Eastern District of Virginia , sitting at Norfolk , declared those policies unconstitutional . </P>
<P> Massive resistance was a strategy declared by U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd , Sr. of Virginia along with his brother - in - law as the leader in the Virginia General Assembly , Democrat Delegate James M. Thomson of Alexandria , to unite white politicians and leaders in Virginia in a campaign of new state laws and policies to prevent public school desegregation , particularly after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in 1954 . Many schools , and even an entire school system , were shut down in 1958 and 1959 in attempts to block integration , before both the Virginia Supreme Court and a special three - judge panel of Federal District judges from the Eastern District of Virginia , sitting at Norfolk , declared those policies unconstitutional . </P>
who declared that organized resistance by southern states
who declared that organized resistance by southern states
U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd , Sr.
U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd , Sr.