Mapping the Desegregation of Education in Virginia: Where Are the Records?

Abstract

A century from now, will desegregation in Virginia be a forgotten story? If we don’t do a better job of saving our records, it could be. Currently, few records of school desegregation in Virginia are publicly available. While many priceless records of the “massive resistance” to the desegregation of Virginia education reside in the special collections of Virginia’s colleges, universities, and historical societies, the whereabouts of most of Virginia’s crucial records of desegregation are unknown. In 2008, Old Dominion University Libraries formed a statewide organization, Desegregation of Virginia Education (DOVE), to identify, locate, and preserve records that document Virginia’s school desegregation process. DOVE members include librarians, archivists, historians, public officials, and private citizens.