On Friday, Charlottesville and the Albemarle-Charlottesville Historical Society had a commemoration to remember the painful racist events that shutdown Venable and Lane schools 50 years ago. The story is pretty ugly; in 1958, schools closed for 5 months as Virginia protested Brown v Board of Education. With the support of Harry Byrd (pictured above) Virginia’s General Assembly passed the infamous “Massive Resistance” laws which allowed Virginia to shut down any school which still was attended by blacks and whites.
It’s good to put this in perspective; 50 years isn’t that long ago.
[via WCAV] [The Hook has a cover story for 2004 covering this topic]
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charlottesville might still be racist. also: america.
i thought it was interesting that the C-VILLE’s article last week said prince william county currently has perhaps the most stringent anti-mexican laws in the country, & weren’t they the most massive resisters 50 years ago?
I’m reading a book that takes place in the 60’s at UVa and in this last chapter some students go over to what they call “Nigger town” to dance. That’s only 40 years ago.
@3
what novel, please? i’m voracious for anything set in Cville. Any other recommends?
@4: Moïra by Julien Green
@5@6
i’ll check them out, both. Thanks.
i have a lengthening list of them. John Casey’s Half-Life of Happiness, Sidney Blair’s Buffalo, Someone’s Our Noise (basically Cville, even if it’s actually H-burg or composite), Diary of a Sexaholic by UVA Prof (nonfiction), Coy Barefoot’s History of the Corner, Breece Godawful Pancake’s short stories, all the (ten or twelve) unreadable sh*t on Hippocrite Press, Theroux’s Darconville’s Cat, George Garrett’s Poison Pen, couple others can’t remember.
@post
there’s a great documentary film, mostly intervioews with adults who were kids at that time, about this called They Closed Their Schools. It’s about Prince Edward County (other side of Buckingham), which shut down public schools for two or three years, and founded an all-white school called The Academy (now the Fuqua School) to keep all the whites in class while other schools were shut. Until i think about 1985, it was still all-white. I think they made one of the old public school buildings (Morton School?) into a museum covering those bitter two years. The town still has a White Cemetary and across the street a Black Cemetery. It’s sickening.
@8 oh right, prince edward.
this is largely a post for 26 world, isn’t it?
can someone go get him/her out of mcquit to pitch in, so the post doesn’t FAIL?
@10: ALL SIGNS POINT TO YES
perhaps embarrassed to say that i may have ‘asked’
for a racism post for his/her benefit, as a conciliatory gesture.
otter…. I may be totally wrong but I think I know who you are…. did you hang out with Phil G?
@13: IT IS CERTAIN
Wasn`t it the 60s when Vinegar Hill was razed?
@15
i think. there was a play at live arts about it by… ummm… Susan Tyler Hitchcock maybe?
the Irish got screwed too, none need apply etc., in their shantytown here.
@13
i liked Phil Collins OK and have seen/heard him play numerously,
but to say i hung-out with him might be an over-statement.
@Post
i believe i read somewhere that Kluge was a huge proponent of mandatory sterilization and a member of that grotesque and popular movement in sicko-eugenics? I may be making that up. Who is the other rich philanthropist fellow, if it wasn’t kluge.
there was racism in the south in the 50s? i’m shocked!
@16 Otterdung- I said Phil G you myopic twat. Get yourself to fucking Lenscrafters for a set of these
Is Otterdung that adorable for realz? awww
@19
sorry, i’m looking at a TREEEEEEE–OOOOOOOOOO
@20
thank you. the jury is still out, but judging from Floozie’s tone, i’d say: “Nope.”
Otter….I empathize and apologize for calling you a myopic twat.
you’re sweet to say so… the letters on the screen are little-bitty-ants-on-a-sidewalk-viewed-from-high-up.
i’m probably not who you think i am
if you imagine ‘twat’ applies descriptively to me physiologically or otherwise.
Phil G who played on the mall? i liked that kid a lot, was saddened by the loss of him–but we didn’t hang out.
/the code anyhow.
@1 – i agree. it’s everywhere: the south has never had a monopoly on racism and bigotry.
/hands otter a monocle
@17- Harvey Jordan wrote “Eugenics, The rearing of the Human Thouroughbred” and was a leader in the eugenics movement. Jordan Hall at UVa is named after him.
@15 Vinegar Hill was demolished in 1964 after a referendum on the project passed by a margin of about 30 votes.It was one part of a national urban renewal movement. The Federal Government offered the money for the demolition but only if the city would agree to building public housing for the displaced poor. Blacks did vote and many of them (not all) voted for the demolition. Black preachers campaigned for it and it was supported and pushed forward by the city Democrats. Francis Fife, who is still active in the city was the leading proponent of the demolition and began the campaign in the late 1940s. White Republicans and a few black business owners campaigned against it and lost. Republican opposed it because they wanted the Federal government to stay out of local affairs and they didn’t want money spent on the construction of Ridge-McIntire. Blacks who opposed it, particularly Mr Inge of Inges Store, were trying to save their businesses and the neighborhood. The Daily Progress managing editor ran for City Council as a Democrat and was on the ballot when the referendum was held. He won and eventually became mayor. He used the newspaper to support the vote for the “urban renewal” project. The paper published articles that were little more than ads for the project but were presented as news stories. About 50% of the buildings should have been demolished but the rest could have been saved. A few were in fine shape. Poor blacks living in the area were moved into public housing at Westhaven. There were some white families living there and they were moved into privately owned rental properties scattered in white neighborhoods. There’s a lot more to this story.
@25 @17
thank you… slipped my mind. I googled, and it appears a kluge was onboard too.
@25@15
astounding. you are a marvel. i don’t dare reply too thoroughly, but do i read you right as saying that it was not an act of flagrant racist land-seizing and neighborhood destruction, but was done largely with the consent of the community there?
Breece D’J Pancake’s stories don’t take place in Cville, though he wrote them here.
Don’t forget Beloved Gravely by Christian Gehman. It won a big prize.
@27
i’ve missed you colfer; welcome back. i was blurring the john-casey connection and breece’s residence here, stories in The Declaration, etc., have to confess my study of his work was arrested by… ummmm… his work.
never heard a whisper about Beloved Gravely–how odd. jotting it down now. do it sucks?
As is the seductive ways of the internet, I’ve somehow found myself here after reading an article about how a woman in Kansas is trying to rid the school system of requiring Of Mice and Men to be on the reading lists because it uses “the N-word” “violently and profusely”.
I’m oddly speechless by this. And it brought up questions I didn’t realise I had. One being, I’m not exactly sure, even after all these years, what a nigger really is. Two, why? That’s it, just why. It makes no sense to me. If I call someone black, that’s because it’s a generalisation of a physical characteristic and in no way do I feel so all-knowing and powerful that physical characteristics are indicative of personalities, morals, standards, or character. I’m not going to call someone a nigger because like I just said, I really don’t know what that means. Kind of like calling someone pedantic. I keep forgetting what that means but it doesn’t sound nice.
It’s nothing but words. They should have no power anymore. As is usual with the human race, we ride the coattails of past injustices in fear of, what? Our future? Our identity? Without the constant daily reminders of what happened all those years ago (unfortunately not that long ago for many people, not just black people) what have we left to deal with? We’re reminded in music, in entertainment, in the media, in the law (like affirmative action). How can we move forward if we keep dragging the past with us?
I’m utterly and completely perplexed by the concept of racism still being an issue in this world when there is so much worse out there that deserve more attention and consideration.
I don’t know… it’s time for both sides of the concept to drop it and move forward. Words only have meanings because we created meanings for them. Stop using a word and what does it mean after awhile?
I’m not denying the reality and history of what’s happened. It’s indesputable that white men in power or who seek power have been the majority of juggernauts in a timeless war to eradicate everything that is the opposite of the perceived ideal. Perception, that’s a key word in ending racism.
I see a black person and I see a human who has a defining physical characteristic. In no way is that defining or indicative of who they are as a person.
It’s just time to move on.
(Lack of transitions due to boundless distractions in my mind and at work..)
@17 um, no, no and no. where the heck did that come from….?
kluge, and I know him well, would never do anything like that…what the heck???
/provide evidence???
ok, just googled “kluge” and “racism” and came up with all kinds of other folks with the last name “kluge” that were not our local John W. Kluge. Am feeling much more relaxed at this point. Check the facts, people…
my favorite old man billionaire might not be the snappiest dresser on the block, but the man if f-ing brilliant. Don’t be dissing my crazy smart business man, yo.
@26 I wouldn’t say it was done with the consent of the people who actually lived and worked at Vinegar Hill. Mr. Inge opposed the plan and he owned the neighborhood grocery store that was in the building that is now a restaurant at the corner of 4th and West Main. Many of the black people and preachers of Charlottesville did support it though, but they didn’t necesairly live there. The plan was viewed by many as a good deal. Old slums would be demolished and the poor would be provided with new, safe and sanitary homes. The referendum only squeaked through. In my opinion it never would have passed if it hadn’t been for the misuse of the power of the press by The Daily Progress. Many of the residents were renters who lived in property owned by prominent white citizens. Some of the homes were owner occupied and there were some successful lawsuits that resulted in increased payments for the taken property.
@30 Yeah, I mean just about every major crisis our country faces is perhaps inextricably linked to institutional racism…poverty, drug abuse, unemployment, a failing public education system, housing crisis, overpopulation of prisons, etc., but let’s all just decide to drop it, because it’s time move on. And by institutionalized, I don’t even simply mean private systemic practice of racism, but institutionalized by federal and state governments and courts.
In my experience, the people who most want to drop it and move on are the people who are least impacted by the past. As everyone here knows, this is a topic I care very deeply about, and think about every day. I’m not going to take the bait and get into a huge ranty 100+ comment discussion on this thread (though I’m happy to offline), so I’ll harness my comments to this one post.
Probably the best thing to do is let others speak for me: if you haven’t watched it all (or perhaps since high school) I’ll make the general recommendation to watch the great PBS documentary “Eyes on the Prize.” Also, for a more modern take, try the book “The Race Card” by Tali Mendelberg. (There are several books by that name, so check the author name if you look for it.)
/also, my fire has been a bit dim bc I had to put my beloved pitbull to sleep yesterday after a long battle with cancer…thanks, otterdung, for the gimme post, but the timing just didn’t work out…
@30 One last thing and then I’ll go — looking at it now, please slice off any flippant tone I put into this last comment. One thing I do appreciate is when people are honest about their views, which you were, and that is a good start.
I am so sorry for your loss. I’m sure you gave that doggie the best life possible, it was very fortunate to have you as its master.
@32
sorry—i was assuming that social eugenics and targetted sterilization were slantendicularly connected to racism. Perhaps not, though Kevin Cox, who is a brilliant resource on ANY local subject, reminded me it was Jordan locally. Kluge and Eugenics produced a bunch on Google—as i said it was not racism, but sterilization and so on targetted at what was considered by this movement to be, i don’t know their jargon, but ‘weak-links’, parents of infants born with debilitating conditions and terminal diseases, or adults with same or who give birth to same (???).
I don’t think the local-present philanthropist and universal benefactor Kluge was the one involved in this, but maybe his father (or maybe just another guy named Kluge who was a bazillionaire)? This one made his bones in media/telecom, not medicine? My memory of the connection comes from a distant reading of a letter-to-ed or article in the Cville Review I belivee, many years ago–which shocked me.
But my dim memory is presicsely why i asked the question not made a statement or assertion — inviting polite fact-laden rebuttal or confirmation.
My admiration for the present-Kluge’s good-works in community and world remains firm.
i want 26 World to comment more, and Kevin Cox. Those guys know what the hell they’re talking about, facts-at-hand. I have no place in this thread, just wanted to keep it was until those two could pitch-in with real comments.
@38 Thanks for your thoughts. We gave it everything we had, and he was a tremendous friend.
Bless your kind heart. I wish there were more PB owners like you in the world. Hopefully, maybe one day you will be able to adopt another. SPCa has many.
@42 @post
that’s kinda what i took from Kevin Cox’ informative post. makes sense.
@42: Like when you work in restaurants downtown and you’re around the rich and the famous and you think you’re friends with them, but then you realize your just their server? Or like when you work in a place you couldn’t even afford to eat at? Is that classism?
or when sam shepherd/CC pinches your ass in a bar and …
yes, i think it’s like that.
I once bought CC a drink. At Blue Light. I know, that was stoopid.
lurker Googles Eastern Standard that is Escafe for non clique-ish regulars.
new book about Eastern Standard comes up, but looks like vanity press thing
http://www.lulu.com/content/4109435
gawd i spent every paycheck there for the first three years Blue Light was open,
just to get away from the riffraff at Miller’s and enjoy CC waitress-choices.
I like Remy the bartender and Nellie the oyster-guy.
Remy owes me $100. Damn him.
how DID we get books and bars in the racist thread???
was it racism in a bar thread before???
oh yes—that was the Cassis Late-Nite Post
Who poked me??
Dead Horse, i think we need GET BACK ON TOPIC—
but if you have a CAPS-LOCK on your keyboard, you’ll do.
THE TOPIC WAS NICELY PUT TO REST IN 36. TALK AMONGST YOURSELFS.
@53
can we get Stanley in here now to clean up this mess?
@53
i missed @36
@36
hell, i’m sorry 26 World, that’s miserable. I believe in dogs as much as men. So sorry.
Eyes on the Prize is AWESOME, i’ve seen it a dozen times.
I’m so glad I grew up in the 80’s-90’s, and have a mother who taught me that being race-blind was a GOOD THING. I balk at my horribly bigoted grandfather, who grew up eons ago in Alabama and had a “nigger nanny”. I base my judgements of people based on their actions, not their skin color or background.
And yeah, I’m a pleasant peachy color. Not “white”.
@55
true-dat.
same, i think 80s-90s saw a re-identification with, and a re-emphasis of race/racial identity, in a positive (even if negatively often stated) way—the greater recognition of Blues/Jazz and the debt owed it by all modern music, the genesis of rap and that political-social identity, the popularization of writers like Alice Walker/Toni Morrison and rediscovery into the schools and elsewhere of Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, and the magnificent DuBois, etc. Also saw most high-school curricula adopting better textboks with sections dedicated to the specific contributions and history of African Americans, UVA launched its Black Studies Program, television programs thematically race-oriented but not stereotyped, black but not exploitative films from Hollywood, etc.
where the hell did all this come from… 26 World, i need you.
@55, Philbert, I was also raised by parents who taught me that racism was evil and that all people are equal. That was in the 50s and 60s. Your name reminded me of an incidnet from those days.
Shortly after my family moved here in 1963 my parents and my sister, brother, me and a visiting African semenarian named Philibert went to Kenny Burger which was where the KFC is now. My dad ordered 6 Kenny Burgers. When we unwrapped the burgers we found five burgers and one dirty dishrag. It was clear to my father that this was a deliberate, racist act intended to insult Philibert. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him as angry as he was when he stormed back in the store and threw the bag on the counter and started hollering. I never went in the place again, though it was there for some time and it was a popular burger joint.