This thesis investigates the politics, people, and law surrounding the desegregation efforts of Richmond, Virginia's public schools. Sources of information include newspaper and magazine articles, court cases, books, interview transcripts, online historical collections, and personal paper collections. Research findings include a better understanding of how the school desegregation battle in Richmond was shaped by interpretation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment by the courts. Another discovery was how Senator Harry Byrd's previously unfaltering grip on Virginia politics was unable to survive the collapse of the Massive Resistance movement by the state's conservatives, which he spearheaded. Finally, the research showed that a surprisingly small number of people - attorneys, politicians, judges, reporters - so greatly influenced the fate of Richmond's public school integration. The research supports the conclusion that public school desegregation in Richmond was ultimately a failure. This failure was a result of several factors, including Richmond's more moderate delaying tactics, known as "passive resistance", which allowed segregation to remain largely intact in Richmond public schools for sixteen years. Additional factors in the failure of integration include the dramatic demographic shifts among public school students, largely a result of "white flight" to surrounding suburbs, and the courts' limited reach in effectively mandating meaningful public school integration. Collectively, these factors resulted in the failure of public school desegregation in Richmond.