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The Color of their Skin: Education and Race in Richmond Virginia 1954-89
The first major study of school desegregation in a Virginia locality to appear in over twenty-five years, The Color of Their Skin traces the evolution of the Richmond public schools from segregation to desegregation to resegregation over the decades following the Brown decision. Robert A. Pratt explores the undercurrents of white opposition to the dismantling of the "separate but equal" system and analyzes the overall impact of the process on the life of the city. In doing so he has given us a portrait of a society moving, in some ways, backward in time.
Although Richmond's "passive resistance" to integration was not unique, it was notable for having occurred within the broader context of statewide "massive resistance." The schools of Richmond, unlike those in some other localities in Virginia, remained open but segregated, a policy designed to avoid integration without flagrant defiance of the law. By choosing this subtler form of defiance, city officials were able, in effect, to stave off integration for nearly two decades.
The Color of Their Skin also covers Richmond politics concerning the issue. The clash of conservative idealogues such as James J. Kilpatrick and former governor Mills Godwin with activist black attorneys like Oliver W. Hill and Samuel W. Tucker bred a "conservatively" moderate element that was represented on the Richmond school board by the likes of board president (and later Supreme Court Justice) Lewis F. Powell. Powell attempted to chart a course between the extreme factions, a course that Pratt accurately describes as "tokenism," since only a handful of blacks was ever admitted to Richmond's schools until the 1970 school busing decree.
Pratt demonstrates how the impact of school desegregation was felt beyond the schools, in the demographics of the city itself. Because of the glacial slowness of the integration process, intransigent whites had time to flee the city school system and to establish their children in private or suburban public schools. In thirty-five years, Richmond's city schools went from being 57 percent white to 88 percent black, resulting in decreased support for public education. In addition, Pratt shows that the sluggish pace of desegregation under passive resistance gave opponents of integration an opportunity to alter the composition of federal courts in their favor.
The Color of Their Skin features a wealth of interviews with key figures of the era, including Virginius Dabney, Linwood Holton, Robert R. Merhige, and Lewis F. Powell.
Although Richmond's "passive resistance" to integration was not unique, it was notable for having occurred within the broader context of statewide "massive resistance." The schools of Richmond, unlike those in some other localities in Virginia, remained open but segregated, a policy designed to avoid integration without flagrant defiance of the law. By choosing this subtler form of defiance, city officials were able, in effect, to stave off integration for nearly two decades.
The Color of Their Skin also covers Richmond politics concerning the issue. The clash of conservative idealogues such as James J. Kilpatrick and former governor Mills Godwin with activist black attorneys like Oliver W. Hill and Samuel W. Tucker bred a "conservatively" moderate element that was represented on the Richmond school board by the likes of board president (and later Supreme Court Justice) Lewis F. Powell. Powell attempted to chart a course between the extreme factions, a course that Pratt accurately describes as "tokenism," since only a handful of blacks was ever admitted to Richmond's schools until the 1970 school busing decree.
Pratt demonstrates how the impact of school desegregation was felt beyond the schools, in the demographics of the city itself. Because of the glacial slowness of the integration process, intransigent whites had time to flee the city school system and to establish their children in private or suburban public schools. In thirty-five years, Richmond's city schools went from being 57 percent white to 88 percent black, resulting in decreased support for public education. In addition, Pratt shows that the sluggish pace of desegregation under passive resistance gave opponents of integration an opportunity to alter the composition of federal courts in their favor.
The Color of Their Skin features a wealth of interviews with key figures of the era, including Virginius Dabney, Linwood Holton, Robert R. Merhige, and Lewis F. Powell.
134 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1992
About the author
Robert A. Pratt
6 booksRobert A. Pratt has been a member of UGA's history faculty since 1987. He received his Bachelor's degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and his Master's and PhD from the University of Virginia. He has served formerly as Director of the Institute for African American Studies and Chair of the History Department. His articles and essays have appeared in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Rutgers Law Journal, The University of Richmond Law Review, Howard Law Review, The Georgia Historical Quarterly, and other journals and magazines. He is the recipient of several national fellowships and grants, including a Danforth Foundation Fellowship (1980-1984), a Spencer Foundation Grant (1990), and a Brown Foundation Fellowship (1995). In addition to his books, Pratt has also served as historical consultant for several documentaries.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 3, 2026
This book took a lot longer to read than I anticipated. Not because it was bad by any means, but the material felt so dense that it felt a lot longer than it really was. I learned some new things, and had some of my previous thoughts validated. And though this was specifically about Richmond and quite "outdated" by now, I know I can adequately use it for my own research project. Sometimes it even felt comical how some of these things still applied today, so hopefully more people would be willing to open their ears and look for the patterns.
July 4, 2011
For any privileged white person who has ever idly wondered why race relations in this country are so bad; for the young man who has been vaguely offended and concerned by affirmative action; for anyone who has never heard the long and painful story of school desegregation; this book is a must-read.
Dr. Pratt's book is a sweeping chronology of school desegregation from Brown v. Board of Education to 1989. His research focuses on the actions and reactions of whites and blacks in Virginia generally, and Richmond specifically. He relies on judicial opinions, newspaper editorials, personal interviews, and clear, simple statistics to describe the history and implications of school board and government policies. He makes the story very human, and though it is always clear which side is "in the right," he does not demonize the other. This book is captivating and very readable. I would recommend it to anyone who never lived through those times.
Dr. Pratt's book is a sweeping chronology of school desegregation from Brown v. Board of Education to 1989. His research focuses on the actions and reactions of whites and blacks in Virginia generally, and Richmond specifically. He relies on judicial opinions, newspaper editorials, personal interviews, and clear, simple statistics to describe the history and implications of school board and government policies. He makes the story very human, and though it is always clear which side is "in the right," he does not demonize the other. This book is captivating and very readable. I would recommend it to anyone who never lived through those times.
June 23, 2013
Academic study of Education and race in Richmond 1954-1989. Fascinating!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews