Crockford, Virginia Alden, 1917-2001

Virginia Alien Crockford (1918-2001) served as head of the City of Richmond's School Board during the late 1960s and early 1970s when integration and busing were fiercely debated topics in the city. Her support in favor of keeping Richmond's schools open through the use of busing to integrate was met with extreme controversy in the city. In their obituary of Crockford, published March 26, 2001, the Richmond Times- Dispatch wrote:"Despite death threats, public rallies denouncing her personally and one attempt by the Richmond City Council to remove her from office, Mrs. Crockford looked beyond the issues of the day, calling public schools 'our answer.' Born in Blacksburg, Virginia in 1918, Crockford and her husband, W. Hamilton Crockford III, who became a Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter, moved to Richmond in 1947. She was appointed to the Richmond School Board in 1962, becoming the board's only woman and only the second woman in its history. After a 1970 attempt by City Councilman Howard H. Carwile to remove her from her post as School Board chair was defeated by a 7-1 vote, Councilman James G. Carpenter said of Mrs. Crockford: "She is a person who fights for what she believes is right and who is prepared to take the consequences." [See Times-Dispatch obituary]. She left the board after her term limit expired in 1972. She died March 24, 2001.

From the description of Virginia Crockford papers, 1958-1980 (James Branch Cabell Library). WorldCat record id: 680057991

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