Virgil Blossom

Who is Virgil Blossom?

Virgil T. Blossom was an American educator.

Blossom is best known for his time in Little Rock, Arkansas as Superintendent of Schools during the Little Rock Crisis. In 1955, after the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that American public schools must be integrated, Blossom developed a plan for gradual integration that was put into effect in 1957, despite opposition from Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus. Blossom was removed from office in 1958 when most of the Little Rock Board of Education resigned and the Arkansas state government closed the schools. After a short stay in New York, he moved to San Antonio, Texas to continue his career in education. He founded North East Independent School District, the first school never to be segregated.

Virgil T. Blossom was the superintendent of the Little Rock School District from 1953 to 1958. Blossom moved to Little Rock in 1953 and in 1953 he was nominated to the school board as superintendent. After the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Linda Brown in the case of Brown v. Board of Education in 1955 Blossom established the plan for gradual integration for the Little Rock school district.