The Southern Manifesto on Integration, issued in 1956 by about 100 members of Congress from former Confederate states, vowed to oppose racial integration and the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education which aimed to desegregate schools. The key points of the Southern Manifesto include:
1. **Defiance of Integration:** The document pledged to resist the integration of public facilities, including schools, based on the principle of racial segregation.
2. **States' Rights:** It emphasized states' rights to determine their own laws regarding segregation, rejecting the federal government's intervention in this matter.
3. **Defense of Segregation:** The manifesto defended the practice of segregation as a way of life in the Southern states and argued for its preservation.
4. **Commitment to Jim Crow Laws:** Supporters of the manifesto were committed to maintaining Jim Crow laws that enforced segregation and upheld white supremacy in the South.
Overall, the Southern Manifesto on Integration reflected the resistance to desegregation efforts in the Southern states and the belief in the preservation of racial segregation as a fundamental part of their way of life.
