1. Virginia’s Governors Harry F. Byrd, Sr. A. Linwood Holton, Jr.
L. Douglas Wilder

2. Harry f. Byrd, Sr.
Harry F. Byrd served as governor of Virginia from
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.

3. Harry f. Byrd, Sr.
Harry Byrd was a United States senator from Virginia from
As senator he led the massive resistance movement in Virginia against the integration of public schools.
The movement failed and schools were integrated.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.