Massive Resistance Cartoons
1950s
Scholar Analysis
Listen to J. Douglas Smith discuss the Massive Resistance policy enacted by U.S. Senator, Harry F. Byrd, Sr., in 1956. Smith is the author of Managing White Supremacy: Race, Politics, and Citizenship in Jim Crow Virginia. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California, and teaches courses in urban studies, race relations, and American culture. Smith received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia and has written a number of published articles on race relations and Jim Crow policies in 20th-century Virginia.
Teacher Analysis
Listen to 4th grade teacher Stacy Hoeflich discuss her lesson on the Massive Resistance cartoons. Stacy Hoeflich teaches fourth grade in Alexandria, Virginia. A participant in numerous advanced educational training programs, including Teaching American History, National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute, and Adventure of the American Mind, she also sat on the committee to set the Virginia Standards of Learning for Virginia Studies and serves as fourth grade team leader. She received her B.A. in English and Masters of Education from The George Washington University.
Classroom Practice
Watch fourth grade teacher Stacy Hoeflich teach “Massive Resistance Cartoons” to her classroom.
Lesson Plan
“Fred Seibel, the Times-Dispatch, and Massive Resistance”
In this lesson, students will analyze two editorial cartoons on the topic of desegregation and Massive Resistance from the Richmond Times-Dispatch and determine their meaning; identify editorial perspective; identify the role of the media in political and social movements; identify the policy of “Massive Resistance”; and identify Harry F. Byrd, Sr. as a leader of the Massive Resistance movement in Virginia.
Get the Cartoons
Download the Massive Resistance Cartoons.
Transcripts
Access transcripts of the scholar analysis and teacher analysis videos.
Credits
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following institutions and individuals for the use of images from their collections:
- Department of Historic Resources, Virginia Historical Society
- Library of Congress
- Maxwell School of Syracuse University
- Our Documents: 100 Milestone Documents from the National Archives
- Richmond Times-Dispatch
- Richmond Afro-American
- Ronald L. Heinemann, Harry Byrd of Virginia
- Russell Daily News
- Smithsonian National Museum of American History
- University of Michigan
- University of Mississippi archives
- University of Virginia, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, Virginius Dabney Papers
- U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Public Roads
- Valentine Richmond History Center, Cook Collection
- Virginia Carolina Journal and Guide
- Virginia Center for Digital History, University of Virginia
