Virginius Dabney (February 8, 1901 – December 28, 1995) was an American teacher, journalist, and writer, who edited the Richmond Times-Dispatch from 1936 to 1969 and wrote several historical books.
Dabney won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 1948 due in part to his opposition to the poll tax.
His paternal grandfather (also Virginius Dabney, 1835-1894) was a Confederate veteran and author of collections of tales about the Commonwealth.
[6] He was also known for opining on less-serious topics, such as the death of Ellen Glasgow's dog,[7] and on the qualities of grits and mint juleps.
Although he was personally opposed to massive resistance against desegregation of Virginia's public schools, the owners of the Times-Dispatch did not allow him to editorialize against it.
His other books written during this time included Richmond: The Story of a City (1976), Across the Years: Memories of a Virginian (1978, his autobiography), Mr. Jefferson's University: A History (1981) and Pistols and Pointed Pens: The Dueling Editors of Old Virginia (1987).
Compilations of his newspaper columns were also published as The Last Review: The Confederate Reunion, Richmond, 1932 (1984) and Virginius Dabney's Virginia: Writings about the Old Dominion (1986).