Oral History Interview with Virginius Dabney, July 31, 1975. Interview A-0311-2. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).
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Abstract
Virginius Dabney chronicles his long career as a southern journalist from the 1920s to the 1970s. As the editor of the
Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch, Dabney penned several articles about the social and political crises of the twentieth century, often with a decidedly regional outlook. He wrote a few books concerning southern liberalism and the regional culture of Virginians. These works earned him an invitation as a guest lecturer at Cambridge and Princeton in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Though Dabney discusses his career as a novelist and lecturer, the primary focus of the interview is on his opinions on race relations in post-1954 Virginia. While many Virginia politicians crafted ways to massively resist integrating public schools, he supported gradual public school desegregation. Dabney expresses his criticism of politicians—particularly Senator Harry Byrd Sr. and Jack Kilpatrick—who chose to close public schools rather than integrate them. To Dabney, school closings culminated in backward thinking and fewer economic opportunities for the state. Even though his opinions about massive resistance emerged in his editorials, the owners of the
Times-Dispatch prevented him from a full expression of his ideas. Dabney further discusses the relationship between newspaper owners. He also recounts his connection to Virginia's aristocracy and his relational ties to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Steeped in this background, Dabney reacts adversely to criticism of the nation's founders. He disapproved of Gore Vidal's and Fawn Brodie's work on Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson, respectively. Of particular interest is Dabney's vociferous objection to historian Fawn Brodie's account of a romantic relationship between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson.
Excerpts
Few white Virginians objected initially to the Brown ruling
Defenders of State Sovereignty formed to maintain segregated schools
Most Virginians favored segregated schools
The Gray Commission defied Byrd's fierce segregationist beliefs
Byrd's political influence forced Virginians to support massive resistance strategies
Kilpatrick served as Byrd's press voice for Virginia's massive resistance strategy
Byrd believed integration would destroy southern traditions
The Byrd machine held incredible power to determine political elections
Public school closings changed many Virginians' acceptance of massive resistance
Tensions between Byrd and Almond emerged over massive resistance
Almond reinstated the Gray Commission's suggestion for desegregation
Byrd stymied Almond's appointment to a federal judgeship as political retribution
Virginians latched onto interposition rather than Byrd's massive resistance
Many Virginian politicians avoid public critique of Byrd
Gradual school integration would give Virginians time to adapt
Owners, not editors, determined a newspaper's political views
Limitations on newspaper editors
Newspapers were influenced heavily by the Byrd machine
Whites resisted public criticisms of massive resistance
Few people publicly opposed massive resistance, though some did privately
A gradual desegregation plan would help Virginians accept Brown
Articulation of southern liberalism radicalized Dabney's political ideology in the 1930s
Dabney believed that "separate but equal" would improve southern race relations
Dabney's views remained the same as the political climate changed
Dabney's writing habits
Commercial interests superseded the historical accuracy of the bicentennial organization
Brodie's and Vidal's scholarship besmirched Thomas Jefferson's political legacy
Godwin's statewide education conference assessed the state of public schools
Dabney's lectureships at Cambridge and Princeton
Origins of Virginia Commonwealth University
Southern writers were urged to forge a regional alliance, despite personal rivalries
Desegregation produced rapid racial change, but the hospitable attiudes of Virginians remained
Political realignment occurred along ideological rather than party lines
Rapid racial and political changes in the South
Federal laws encouraged the convergence of the North and South
Shift from newspapers to televised news coverage
Today's big business enterprise of newspapers hampers editors' freedom of expression
Learn More
Finding aid to the Southern Oral History Program Collection
Database of all Southern Oral History Program Collection interviews
Subjects
Press and politics--Virginia
Virginia--Politics and government
Virginia--Race relations
Education, Higher--Virginia
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Documenting the American South undergo an editorial process to remove
transcription errors. Texts may differ from the original transcripts
held by the Southern Historical Collection.
Funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this title.