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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massive resistance

"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 state of Virginia, massive resistance was even written into state law, allowing the closing of public schools that were ordered to desegregate by federal judges.

From Salon ● Mar. 4, 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

But these reforms faced massive resistance, and not only from segregationist demagogues like George Wallace.

From Slate ● Apr. 12, 2016

Why not merely oppose to them a massive resistance?

From The Conqueror by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton