Robert Crawford Interview
(WDBJ Television, Roanoke, VA)

Robert Crawford, one of the founders of the Defenders of State Sovereignty and Individual Liberties, described the organization and its lobbying effort to prevent integration in public schools. Crawford claimed that the Defenders had over 10,000 members with chapters across the state from Danville, Martinsville, and Farmville to Charlottesville, Arlington, and Richmond. Crawford served on the Prince Edward County school board for fifteen years. He considered himself a "champion" for black schools under segregation and a "friend" to blacks. Crawford pointed out that the Defenders supported the Massive Resistance laws, the constitutional referendum, and the Virginia Interposition Resolution in 1956.