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Gray Commission
The Commission on Public Education, known as the VPEC or Gray Commission (after its chair, Virginia state senator Garland Gray), was a 32-member commission established by Governor of Virginia Thomas B. Stanley on August 23, 1954 to study the effects of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Brown v. Board of Education issued on May 17, 1954 and May 31, 1955, and to make recommendations. Its counsel were David J. Mays (until December 1957) and his associate Henry T. Wickham. Background Even before establishing the commission, Stanley had announced his opposition to the ''Brown'' decision. Stanley was allied with U.S. Senator, Harry F. Byrd, head of the Byrd Organization that had long dominated politics in the state, and who as time passed would become more and more staunchly against racial integration, which he rationalized on anti-miscegenation grounds. The day after ''Brown I'', Stanley had called for "cool heads, calm study, and sound judgment" and said he would write to Byrd, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garland Gray
Garland Gray (November 28, 1901 – July, 1977, nicknamed "Peck" after Peck's Bad Boy) was a long-time Democratic member of the Virginia Senate representing Southside Virginia counties, including his native Sussex. A lumber and banking executive, Gray became head of the Democratic Caucus in the Virginia Senate, and vehemently opposed school desegregation after the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 and 1955. Although Senator Harry F. Byrd himself supported Massive Resistance, and preferred Gray over other candidates, the Byrd Organization refused to wholeheartedly support Gray's bid to become the party's gubernatorial candidate in 1957, so J. Lindsay Almond won that party's primary and later the Governorship. Early and family life Gray was born in the rural community of Gray, in Sussex County, Virginia to Elmon Lee Gray and his wife Ella Virginia Darden Gray. His grandfather Alfred L. Gray had moved to Virginia from Sussex County, Delaware a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |