Last modified on May 11, 2021, at 04:25

Harry F. Byrd, Jr.

Harry Flood Byrd Jr.jpg

Harry Flood Byrd, Jr. (December 20, 1914 – July 30, 2013) was a Democrat-turned-Independent from Virginia who served as the state's U.S. senator from the 1960s to the 80s. He was the son of staunch segregationist Harry Flood Byrd, Sr., who initiated the "Massive Resistance" against integration in U.S. public schools.

Like his father, Byrd opposed the Supreme Court ruling Brown v. Board of Education which ordered the desegregation of public schools, defending the "Massive Resistance" despite school closings in claiming that it supposedly had prevented further racial violence.[1]

References

  1. Lewis, Bob (July 30, 2013). Former Va. Sen. Harry Byrd Jr. dies; favored segregation, left Democrats at key turning point. StarTribune. Retrieved April 23, 2021.

External links

  • Profile at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress