Virginius Dabney; Editor, Historian
RICHMOND, Va. — Virginius Dabney, a Pulitzer Prize-winning editor for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and author of several books on Virginia history, has died. He was 94.
Dabney, who died Thursday, won widespread recognition as a leading Southern moderate while serving as editor of the Times-Dispatch editorial page from 1934 until he retired in 1969. He was awarded the Pulitzer in 1947.
During the 1930s and 1940s, his editorials, magazine articles and books called for a federal anti-lynching law, desegregation of public transportation and repeal of the poll tax as a requirement to vote.
In the early 1970s, he produced histories of Virginia and Richmond that won him accolades for their blend of scholarship and style.
His “Virginia: The New Dominion†was published in 1971 and “Richmond: The Story of a City†in 1976. He also wrote “Virginia Commonwealth University: A Sesquicentennial History.â€
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