Defenders of State Sovereignty and Individual Liberties

The Defenders of State Sovereignty and Individual Liberties was a political group dedicated to strict segregation in Virginia schools.

In June 1955 it published its Plan for Virginia.

[1] The words of Richard Crawford, president of the Defenders, are recognizable today as dog-whistle politics.

[2] The Defenders advocated an amendment to the state constitution to allow the creation of state tuition vouchers and to withdraw state funding for integrated schools.

A ballot measure on January 9, 1956, passed by a vote of 304,154 to 146,164.