Many white southerners reacted to the Brown v. Board of Education ruling with anger and resistance. They saw the ruling as an attack on their way of life and as a threat to their control over the education system. In response, some white southerners took steps to preserve segregation in schools and maintain the status quo.
Two southern governors who sought to preserve the status quo in southern schools were Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas and Governor George Wallace of Alabama. Governor Faubus used the Arkansas National Guard to prevent African American students from attending Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Governor Wallace famously stood in the doorway of the University of Alabama to prevent African American students from enrolling in the school in 1963.
Both governors sought to preserve segregation in southern schools and maintain the status quo by using their executive powers and the support of state law enforcement. Their actions sparked widespread controversy and helped to galvanize the civil rights movement. They also prompted the federal government to take a more active role in enforcing desegregation and ending racial discrimination in the South