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VIRGINIA’S GOVERNORS

Harry F. Byrd, Sr.

A. Linwood Holton, Jr.

L. Douglas Wilder
HARRY F. BYRD, SR.
Harry F. Byrd served as
governor of Virginia from
1926-1930
 As governor he began the
program “Pay as You Go”
as a way of paying for new
roads. This policy created
the Virginia highway
system.
 He modernized state
government.

HARRY F. BYRD, SR.
Harry Byrd was a United
States senator from
Virginia from 1933-1965.
 As senator he led the
massive resistance
movement in Virginia
against the integration of
public schools.
 The movement failed and
schools were integrated.

A. LINWOOD HOLTON, SR.


Governor of Virginia
from 1970-1974
He believed in racial
equality and increased
the employment and
appointment of African
Americans and women
in state government.
A. LINWOOD HOLTON, SR.


Tayloe Holton, daughter of then Governor A. Linwood Holton
participated in Richmond's court-ordered busing plan in the fall of
1970, although by precedent her parents could have placed her in
one of the still mainly white suburban county schools.
This photograph, which ran in the New York Times, shows a
progressive governor escorting his daughter to her first day at the
predominantly black John F. Kennedy High School.
L. DOUGLAS WILDER
In 1969, L. Douglas Wilder became the first African
American state senator in Virginia since Reconstruction.
Wilder spent ten years in the General Assembly and was
recognized as one of its most effective legislators.
L. DOUGLAS WILDER
In 1985, Wilder was elected lieutenant
governor. Four years later, he ran for
statewide office again, and, on January
13, 1990, L. Douglas Wilder became
Virginia's sixty-sixth governor. He was the
first elected African American governor in
United States history.
During his administration, Wilder was
praised for his sound fiscal management
and his ability to balance the state budget
during difficult economic times. He
sponsored new construction projects at
many of Virginia's colleges and
universities, mental health facilities, and
state parks.