When I moved to Virginia more than four decades ago (a very scary undertaking for a New York liberal!!!!!), I was shocked at the blatant anti-Black, anti-Jewish sentiments that pervaded the so-called liberal hamlet of Charlottesville. (Yes, when I ventured out to the surrounding areas, it got much worse!)
After all, the city (and surrounding county) was pockmarked with slews (more than 100) of ‘Christian’ academies. As long as ‘Christian’ meant White, bigoted, and Byrd adherents.
No, not the West Virginia Byrd (who was also not as enlightened as many purport). No, this Byrd had been a Virginia State Senator, Governor, and US Senator. And, as enlightened as any slave owner of the 1850’s.
He (Harry Flood Byrd) was staunchly in favor of poll taxes, literacy tests (only for Blacks- one can only presume how few of his adherents would pass ANY literacy test), separate but [un]equal education (Virginian schools were among those included in the Brown v. Board of Education landmark case), and a slew of other bigoted, racist concepts.
That Supreme Court decision is what birthed the “massive resistance’ movement. The founding of ‘Christian’ academies and schools which taught at least two generations of White Virginia children how to perpetuate segregation and bigotry. (A direct relative is the school where the Vice President’s wife is a teacher in Springfield, Virginia right now.)
With all the hoopla about destroying statues that venerate Confederate values, not much has been mentioned about the statue honoring this slimeball. As a matter of fact, the statue declares that Byrd promoted “governmental restraint and programs in the best interest of all the people of Virginia”. Yes, as long those people were not Jewish or Black. Or gay- but that part came much later. (See Immanuel Christian School mentioned above).
While Charlottesville High School was built right before I moved in, it was populated mostly with Black students who had attended Burley High School (the segregated school that reopened as a middle school that same year). With most of the White children in the area attending those ‘Christian’ academies. It would be some 6 years, before the “program” ended- and Charlottesville High School was really integrated.
It was a decade later (1986) when Jerry (Gerald) Baliles ended the “pay as you go” system of government (or lack thereof) for the Commonwealth. (This concept prevented the Commonwealth from building new schools, roads, and other portions of its infrastructure.) The last vestiges of the scourges perpetrated by the Byrd Machine.
I’ll continue this tomorrow, but on a happier note…
[Oops. That was before I adjusted my queue. This will continue on Tuesday.]
thank you,beautiful writing achievements
Thank you SO much for your visit and comment.
It is shocking, so I can imagine what that must have been like all those decades ago. That was around the time I was among the first to integrate the high school I went to, though I didn’t really fully understand that at the time & was surprised by the racism I encountered.
Sorry you had to endure that, Jeanine.
after reading this, I am looking forward to that happier note 🙂 and wonder why no hoopla being made about this statue (and if color is such an issue, should the statue not be a different color?)
vidya recently posted..13 Things that Come to Mind at Milestones…
Me, too, Vidya. Tuesday.
Because, it turns out Monday is another ‘special’ day.
I have enjoying my history lessons you have shared during the blog challenge. Congrats on completing January challenge, will we see you in April?
I post 5 days a week, Martha. And, I so announce on a variety of platforms…The UBC is kne.
Virginia statues. One could write a book about them – I’ve never seen the one in Charlottesville (the Robert E. Lee statue whose proposed removal led to those horrible protests in 2017) but I’ve been on Monument Avenue in Richmond, and yes, I’ve also been to the grave of Jefferson Davis in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. So why am I not surprised by any of your observations about Charlottesville? I’ve been on the Virginia Capitol grounds and I don’t remember the Byrd statue but I didn’t know anything about him until I read your post. This is going to be a very interesting month for Virginia – to me it is absolutely unreal that any university, anywhere, would have permitted a page in a yearbook such as the one that “starred” the person I suspect will soon be their ex-Governor, even as late as the 1980’s. It made me sick to my stomach.
Oh, Alana! I agree. And, I am interjecting into my queue on Tuesday to address the matter mentioned kn your last sentence.