Virgil Blossom
Encyclopedia
Virgil T. Blossom was an American
educator.
Blossom is best known for his time in Little Rock, Arkansas
as Superintendent of Schools (1953–1958) during the Little Rock Crisis. In 1955, after the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education
(1954) that American public schools must be integrated
, Blossom developed a plan for gradual integration that was put into effect in 1957, despite opposition from Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus
. Blossom was removed from office in 1958 when most of the Little Rock Board of Education
resigned and the Arkansas state government closed the schools.
After a short stay in New York, he moved to San Antonio, Texas to continue his career in education. He founded North Ease Independent School District, the first school never to be segregated.
Virgil T. Blossom was the superintendent of the Little Rock School District from 1953 to 1958. Blossom moved to Little Rock in 1953 and in 1953 he was nominated to the school board as superintendent. After the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Linda Brown in the case of Brown v. Board of Education in 1955 Blossom established the plan for gradual integration for the Little Rock school district. After the first year of integration at the Little Rock Central High School Virgil was removed from office, and the Central High School was closed down for a year. After the schools closed down he moved to San Antonio, Texas and opened the first ever school that had never been segregated.
Virgil Blossom created the Blossom Plan, the structure for the Integration of Little Rock High. After the Brown v. Board of Education case, where the courts ruled in favor of Integration, the Little Rock Board of Education released a statement saying it would “comply with the Court’s decision, once the court outlined the method and time frame for implementation.” The Board chose the superintendent Virgil Blossom to formulate the plan. In May of 1955 the board adopted his plan, and named it the Blossom Plan. The original plan was to start the integration at the elementary schools, but as more elementary school parents spoke their opinions the plan was altered to begin integration in the fall of 1957 at Central High School, then to the junior high by 1960 and to the elementary level by 1963. The plan also included that any student whose race was a minority in their school could ask for a transfer. Despite the plan General Faubus called the National Guard to turn students away from the school. On February 8, 1956 the court made the Blossom plan a “court mandated operation,” and it was carried out with the help of President Eisenhower. Virgil Blossom received numerous death threats and promises to put him out of work during his term as the superintendent.
Without Virgil Blossom as the superintendent during the Little Rock High Integration period the district would probably not have been able to implement the desegregation as effectively. In order for Blossom to start the integration he needed to ignore Governor Faubus’s obvious opposition to the integration. Maybe, however, the plan for integration had Blossom not wrote it, would have been less gradual than his plan. Once Eisenhower’s plan with men guarding the children had succeeded, Virgil was quoted as saying “I have nothing but praise for the Guardsmen and the manner in which they performed a trying job under difficult circumstances.” Despite the closing of the schools, Blossom did an effective, and well-executed job in integrating Little Rock High School.
Blossom wrote about his experiences in Little Rock in a memoir
, It Has Happened Here (1959).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
educator.
Blossom is best known for his time in Little Rock, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
as Superintendent of Schools (1953–1958) during the Little Rock Crisis. In 1955, after the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
(1954) that American public schools must be integrated
Racial integration
Racial integration, or simply integration includes desegregation . In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws on diverse traditions, rather than merely...
, Blossom developed a plan for gradual integration that was put into effect in 1957, despite opposition from Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus
Orval Faubus
Orval Eugene Faubus was the 36th Governor of Arkansas, serving from 1955 to 1967. He is best known for his 1957 stand against the desegregation of Little Rock public schools during the Little Rock Crisis, in which he defied a unanimous decision of the United States Supreme Court by ordering the...
. Blossom was removed from office in 1958 when most of the Little Rock Board of Education
Board of education
A board of education or a school board or school committee is the title of the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or higher administrative level....
resigned and the Arkansas state government closed the schools.
After a short stay in New York, he moved to San Antonio, Texas to continue his career in education. He founded North Ease Independent School District, the first school never to be segregated.
Virgil T. Blossom was the superintendent of the Little Rock School District from 1953 to 1958. Blossom moved to Little Rock in 1953 and in 1953 he was nominated to the school board as superintendent. After the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Linda Brown in the case of Brown v. Board of Education in 1955 Blossom established the plan for gradual integration for the Little Rock school district. After the first year of integration at the Little Rock Central High School Virgil was removed from office, and the Central High School was closed down for a year. After the schools closed down he moved to San Antonio, Texas and opened the first ever school that had never been segregated.
Virgil Blossom created the Blossom Plan, the structure for the Integration of Little Rock High. After the Brown v. Board of Education case, where the courts ruled in favor of Integration, the Little Rock Board of Education released a statement saying it would “comply with the Court’s decision, once the court outlined the method and time frame for implementation.” The Board chose the superintendent Virgil Blossom to formulate the plan. In May of 1955 the board adopted his plan, and named it the Blossom Plan. The original plan was to start the integration at the elementary schools, but as more elementary school parents spoke their opinions the plan was altered to begin integration in the fall of 1957 at Central High School, then to the junior high by 1960 and to the elementary level by 1963. The plan also included that any student whose race was a minority in their school could ask for a transfer. Despite the plan General Faubus called the National Guard to turn students away from the school. On February 8, 1956 the court made the Blossom plan a “court mandated operation,” and it was carried out with the help of President Eisenhower. Virgil Blossom received numerous death threats and promises to put him out of work during his term as the superintendent.
Without Virgil Blossom as the superintendent during the Little Rock High Integration period the district would probably not have been able to implement the desegregation as effectively. In order for Blossom to start the integration he needed to ignore Governor Faubus’s obvious opposition to the integration. Maybe, however, the plan for integration had Blossom not wrote it, would have been less gradual than his plan. Once Eisenhower’s plan with men guarding the children had succeeded, Virgil was quoted as saying “I have nothing but praise for the Guardsmen and the manner in which they performed a trying job under difficult circumstances.” Despite the closing of the schools, Blossom did an effective, and well-executed job in integrating Little Rock High School.
Blossom wrote about his experiences in Little Rock in a memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
, It Has Happened Here (1959).