University of Virginia Library

The Quiet Revolution

A quiet revolution is transpiring in the
polling places of Virginia today: quiet in the
sense that many Virginians don't realize
it is occurring, revolutionary because politics
in the Commonwealth will never again be the
same.

On a statewide basis, the Republican
Party is coming of age. For the first time
since Reconstruction, Virginia is experiencing
the rivalry of two strong parties. Republicans
are in the race for more than
half of the General Assembly's 140 seats
in the liveliest off-year election campaign
the state has known for many years. Experienced
observers give the G.O.P. a chance
of doubling its present 16-member delegation
in Richmond by snatching a few Democratic
seats in the Southwest and in the Valley,
and particularly in the Northern Virginia
suburbs where the campaigning has been
fierce.

However the local and state races turn
out, the Republican Party-now outnumbered
in the General Assembly by nearly
10 to 1- will be a force to be reckoned
with in future contests. That the Democratic
leadership is aware of this change
can be seen in the unprecedented degree
Governor Godwin and other state officials
have entered the off-year fight.

Similar evidence of change can be seen
in Richmond, where Negroes are running
strong races for two legislative seats. Both
the Washington Post and The Richmond
Times-Dispatch agree that one—Dr. W.
Ferguson Reid-has an excellent chance of
becoming the first Negro in the Assembly
since Reconstruction. Dr. Reid is running
as a Democrat-with enthusiastic party support—for
one the eight House of Delegates
seats shared by Richmond and Henrico
County. Victory is also a possibility for
Dr. William S. Thornton, who is running
as an independent in the city's State Senate
contest. Dr. Thornton enjoys the backing of
the powerful Crusade for Voters, an influential
Negro political organization.

As Ed Grimsley writes in the Times-Dispatch,
a victory today by either candidate
would not mean that Negroes would be
sitting in the legislature for the first time.
Although Richmond has never been represented
by a Negro, some 100 of them
served in the General Assembly between
1869 and 1891. These men were the beneficiaries,
of course, of the federal reconstruction
laws that gave the vote to almost
all male Negro adults while denying it to
many whites.

Although no Negroes have served in the
legislature since 1891, their record of accomplishment
in the previous two decades
was a respectable one. Drawn for the most
part from the propertied class of Negro
lawyers, doctors and ministers, these legislators
devoted their efforts to such matters
as public education, suffrage and civil rights.

One of the great tragedies of Southern
civilization was that the talent of such men
was wasted when the whites regained political
supremacy and the "Jim Crow" laws were
instituted around the turn of the century.

Today's election is one more step in the
changing pattern of politics across the
South. Whatever the results, the resurgence
of the Republican Party and the serious
consideration of candidates of both colors
can only be a step in the right direction.