massive resistance

Cultural  

1. The opposition of many white leaders in the South to the decision of the Supreme Court in Brown versus Board of Education in 1954. The Court had declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. The expression massive resistance was used in a letter signed by over a hundred members of Congress, calling on southerners to defy the Supreme Court's ruling.

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Example Sentences

"It became known under the term massive resistance of just resisting everything that the federal courts ordered no matter what, and trying to retain the old system," Mr Mincberg said.

From BBC • Nov. 21, 2023

In the civil rights era, this court led the charge for desegregation, fighting massive resistance with forceful decisions that helped break the back of Jim Crow.

From Slate • May 17, 2023

The takeover was met with massive resistance, which has since turned into what some U.N. experts have characterized as civil war.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 17, 2022

She had won a Pulitzer for covering "massive resistance" to desegregation in Virginia.

From Salon • Feb. 1, 2022

Nor did it follow from the overwhelming support for segregation that a policy of integration would result in massive resistance.

From Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940-1965 by MacGregor, Morris J.