ABSTRACTIn 1956, southern Congressmen signed the Southern Manifesto, rejecting the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling. This moment, in the general American consciousness, marked the rise of White massive resistance to Black advancement, a racist foray doomed to be swept aside by civil rights forces and a determined federal government. The reality is more complex. In the case of education policy in Mississippi, White hardline resistance stretches from the end of the Civil War through the modern school choice debate. The advocates and opponents of school choice should know this history of racist education policy in Mississippi.