Oral History Interview with Virginia Foster Durr, March 13, 14, 15, 1975. Interview G-0023-2. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).
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Abstract
In this fast-paced 1975 interview, Virginia Foster Durr and her husband Clifford banter back and forth as Clifford reminds Virginia of stories, names and significant events throughout the conversation. The interview, the second in a series of three, begins where the first one left off—with Virginia's growing awareness of social problems in the South, particularly of the evils of poverty. During the early 1930s, they faced a great many changes. Her brother-in-law Hugo Black returned to the Senate, and her mother had to be hospitalized because of depression. When Clifford lost his job in a Birmingham law office, he accepted a position with the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in Washington, D.C. After they arrived in Washington, she attempted to join the social milieu. One day, however, she decided she had had enough of all the receptions and joined the women's division of the Democratic Party to work with Eleanor Roosevelt. She became involved with issue of the poll tax, having herself been unable to vote several times because of it. Through their various activities, the Durrs befriended Clark Foreman, Lyndon Johnson, John L. and Kathryn Lewis, Tallulah Bankhead, and other young New Dealers. The La Follette Civil Liberties Committee hearings following the brutal attack on Joe Gelders drove Virginia to recognize how complicit her family and friends were in the violence and injustice occurring across the South. As a result, she helped organize the Southern Conference for Human Welfare in 1938. She also met Mary McLeod Bethune, and in the interview, she tells stories about how Bethune handled the racial segregation in various places they went, often undermining it in clever ways. As both the Durrs became increasingly involved in the New Deal actions, they became aware of the growing anti-Communist feeling that was spreading across the United States. In the interview, they discuss various manifestations of the growing hysteria, including Truman's loyalty oath, which ultimately drove Clifford from public office. Still hopeful and idealistic, Durr campaigned for Henry Wallace, the Progressive candidate, in 1948.
Excerpts
The Great Depression strikes the industrial areas of the South
The Great Depression and Durr's family
Durr organizes segregated entertainment
Clifford leaves his law firm in the middle of the Great Depression
Clifford earns a position with the Reconstruction Finance Corporation
Rural poverty during the Great Depression
Durr spends time with a Communist
Durr joins the women's division of the Democratic Party
Durr joins the anti-poll tax efforts
The Durrs' racist beliefs are challenged by Clark and Mairi Foreman
Durr serves at a reception honoring an African American
The Durrs find friendship with other southern liberals in Washington, D.C.
The Durrs befriend the Lewises
Durr learns about the dark side of southern paternalism
Durr renews her friendship with the Gelders
Foreman founds the Southern Policy Committee
The Durrs meet Lucy Randolph Mason and become more active in social justice efforts
The first Southern Conference for Human Welfare
Opposition to the Durrs' increasing activism
Durr becomes increasingly critical of racial prejudice
Durr becomes vice chairman of the poll tax committee
Money, gender, race, and power in the New South
Racism in the social justice movements of the 1930s
The ways race, class, and gender undermine alliances among the oppressed
Durr discusses work and family
Character attacks on Hugo Black
Finding sponsors for the poll tax bills
The FBI investigates the poll tax committee
Anti-Communism splits the poll tax committee
Socioeconomic divisions between middle-class activists and working-class laborers
Durr's stance on the Cold War
Durr describes Mike and Binnie Straight
Japanese internment, red-baiting, and the Durrs
Various ways activists protest racism
Durr keeps peace between Dombrowski and Foreman
Mary McLeod Bethune protests segregation policies
Mary Church Terrell challenges segregation
Durr joins the Progressive Party
Durr joins the Progressive Party
Perspectives on Wallace's campaign
Use of "black peril" to break up union activists
Learn More
Finding aid to the Southern Oral History Program Collection
Database of all Southern Oral History Program Collection interviews
Subjects
Southern Conference for Human Welfare
Women in trade-unions
Black, Hugo LaFayette, 1886-1971
Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973
Lewis, John
The Southern Oral History Program transcripts presented here on
Documenting the American South undergo an editorial process to remove
transcription errors. Texts may differ from the original transcripts
held by the Southern Historical Collection.
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