Few white Virginians objected initially to the <cite>Brown</cite> ruling
Dabney recalls little initial anti-desegregation fervor among Virginians in the immediate post-<cite>Brown</cite> decision.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Virginius Dabney, July 31, 1975. Interview A-0311-2. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- DANIEL JORDAN:
-
Long after the fact, Benjamin Muse wrote that he thought the chance of
compliance in Virginia in '54, before the decision was announced, was
fairly good. He based that on the fact that Virginia had a good
history of race relations and he had interviewed
some officials. Would your recollection be along those same lines?
- VIRGINIUS DABNEY:
-
Yes. I didn't think that we were going to have all this trouble that we
did have and in the early stages of the period before massive resistance actually began and after the decision of 1954, it looked as if we were going to have a fairly smooth reception of the decision.
- DANIEL JORDAN:
-
What was the immediate official reaction to the decision of May 17th?
- VIRGINIUS DABNEY:
-
There was calm, I think. Stanley was not excited and he spoke in a
restrained way about it and gave the impression that he was going to be
working to make it effective without any hullabaloo, and he said he was
going to consult both races and sounded very conciliatory.
- DANIEL JORDAN:
-
Was that the mood as well throughout the state, were there immediate
defiant cries in Virginia?
- VIRGINIUS DABNEY:
-
I don't remember any, I don't think there were.
