Near 60 laws and legal opinions that upheld segregation during the Jim Crow area in Virginia are being wiped off the books.  Outgoing Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring says the laws supported by previous Virginia Attorneys General, upheld segregation, bans on interracial marriage bans and other racist laws, needed to be definitively nullified.

Most of the Jim Crow era laws and opinions are no longer in affect due to Supreme Court decisions.  Still,  State Senator Mamie Locke, a member of the Virginia Assembly’s legislative Black caucus, sees Herrings actions as progress.

Herrings says the laws struck from Virginia’s legal books supported Virginia’s Massive Resistance campaign which pushed back against federal desegregation efforts.  Some of the tactics of the campaign included shutting down public schools rather than allowing integration.