“All deliberate speed”

Brown II is issued, ordering schools to desegregate and directing districts to proceed with “all deliberate speed.” It does not specify a deadline for schools or an outline for what exactly they should do, opening a pathway for massive resistance to desegregation to fully unfold.

Telegram from a Virginia resident to then Governor of Virginia Thomas B. Stanley, 1954. In this telegram to Governor Stanley, the resident summed up what many white Southerners thought about the U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Image source: Library of Virginia