J. Lindsay Almond: Virginias Reluctant Rebel

From inside dust jacket: This is the story of Virginia's painful transition from a segregated past to an integrated future. It is also Lindsay Almond's story, because he was cast as the period's central character. Rather than obey federal court orders to integrate Virginia's public schools in 1958, Harry Byrd's Democratic organization chose to shut down class rooms across the state. J. Lindsay Almond, Jr., the Byrd machine's candidate for governor in 1957, had been elected on a platform of fighting integration. Earlier as state attorney general, and then as governor, Almond was Byrd's designated leader in the organization's fight against federal intervention. Almond's main weapon was his great oratorical powers, which he used throughout the 1950s to attack the federal government, the NAACP and the drive for civil rights. Then, on January 28, 1959, just a week after delivering one of his most scathing outbursts against integration, Almond abruptly relented and changed course. Citing Vir