The Southern Manifesto (1956)
Linda Brown and her new class mates after the Supreme
Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education.
Sen. Strom Thurmond prepared
first draft of Southern Manifesto
repudiating the Supreme Court's
1954 school desegregation
decision. February 1956.
Source:
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/marsha
ll/manifesto.htmlCourtesy: Strom Thurmond Institute
The Southern Manifesto
In 1956, 96 congressmen from the former
Confederate States wrote the Southern
Manifesto to voice their opposition to the
1954 Supreme Court ruling Brown v. Board
of Education. It was signed by 77 members
of the House of Representatives and 19
Senators, including the entire
congressional delegations of the states of
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana,
Mississippi and South Carolina.
Main Points
The Southern Manifesto
1. The Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of
Education is a clear abuse of judicial power.
We regard the decision of the Supreme Court in the schools
cases as a clear abuse of the judicial power. It climaxes a
trend in the Federal judiciary undertaking to legislate, in
derogation of the authority of Congress, and to encroach
upon the reserved rights of the States and the people.
Main Points Continued…
The Southern Manifesto
2. The doctrine of separate but equal is an established legal principle,
almost a century old, and the Supreme Court has no legal bases to
overturn it.
The original Constitution does not mention education. Neither does the
14th amendment nor any other amendment. The debates preceding the
submission of the 14th amendment clearly show that there was no intent
that it should affect the systems of education maintained by the States.
•The very Congress which proposed the [14th] amendment provided for
segregated schools in the District of Columbia.
•In 1868, 26 out of the 37 states
approved of segregated schools
•The doctrine of separate but equal
schools originated in the North in the
1849 case of Roberts v City of
Boston.
•In the 1896 case of Plessy v.
Ferguson, the Supreme Court
declared that separate but equal
facilities did not violate a citizen's
right under the 14th amendment.
Main Points Continued…
The Southern Manifesto
3. The Supreme Court’s unwarranted decision in Brown v. Board of
Education is creating chaos and hurting relations between whites
and blacks.
This unwarranted exercise of power by the Court, contrary to the
Constitution, is creating chaos and confusion in the States
principally affected. It is destroying the amicable relation between
the white and Negro races that have been created through 90 years
of patient effort by the good people of both races. It has planted
hatred and suspicion where there has been heretofore friendship and
understanding.
4. Outside agitators threaten to destroy the system of public
education in much of the South.
Without regard to the consent of the
governed, outside agitators are
threatening immediate and revolutionary
changes in our public-school systems. If
done, this is certain to destroy the
system of public education in some of
the States.
Thurgood Marshall with James Nabrit Jr. and George E.C. Hayes after their victory in
the Brown v. Board of Education case before the Supreme Court, May 17, 1954.
Main Points Continued…
The Southern Manifesto
5. The Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education
violates States’ rights and is unconstitutional.
We decry the Supreme Court’s encroachments on rights reserved to
the States and to the people, contrary to established law and to the
Constitution.
Linda Brown
Main Points Continued…
The Southern Manifesto
6. We Southerners will refrain from lawless acts, even as we confront
the wrongs of the Supreme Court and provocations by outside
agitators.
In this trying period, as we all seek to right this wrong, we appeal to
our people not to be provoked by the agitators and troublemakers
invading our States and to scrupulously refrain from disorders and
lawless acts.
September 4, 1957: In Little Rock, Ark.,
shouts of approval greeted Paul Davis
Taylor as he waved a Confederate flag at
Central High School.
September 5, 1957: A jeering Student follows
Elizabeth Echford as she tries to enter Central
High School.