Loudoun Defenders of State Sovereignty and Individual Liberties

Organization of Loudoun County, Va., citizens formed to oppose racial integration following the 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Topeka Board of Education.

Defenders of State Sovereignty and Individual Liberties was an organization formed to oppose integration after the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. It was established in Farmville, Va., and headed by Robert (R.B.) Crawford (ca. 1911-1973), who had been on the Prince Edward County School Board for fifteen years. The Defenders stated their goals as preservation of segregation without violence or lawlessness. During a 1956 interview, Crawford claimed the Defenders had approximately 10,000 members across Virginia. It was a powerful organization throughout the mid and late 1950s, but began to fade away during the early 1960s.

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