Letter Regarding Freedom of Choice in Education

In a letter dated June 22, 1961, C. F. Hicks, the coordinator for the 1961 gubernatorial campaign of Albertis S. Harrison Jr., writes to Leon Dure. As a means of avoiding the court-mandated integration of public schools, Dure promoted giving students state tuition grants for private segregated schools. Hicks wrote that Harrison was in favor of freedom of choice "keyed to the fundamental that it is not based on segregation or integration but that any child in Virginia may obtain a tuition grant."

Harrison was joined on the 1961 state Democratic ticket by Mills E. Godwin Jr. and Robert Y. Button, candidates for lieutenant governor and attorney general, respectively. All three won election in November of that year.

Citation: Leon Sebring Dure Papers, 1957–1970. Accession #9751. Special Collections, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.