we begin with the story of Virginia Foster Durr, who was a friend of the two senior authors of this book. Mrs. Durr, who died in 1999 at the age of ninety-six, was a remarkable woman not only in her contributions to racial justice and civil liberties but in the surprising direction her life took, given the culture in which she grew up. Virginia Durr was a white woman from a genteel (and racist) Alabama family, yet she became a major figure in the black civil rights movement. She helped integrate Washington, D.C., and Birmingham, Alabama, and fought for years to end the poll tax, which was used to prevent blacks, women, and poor people from voting in the South until 1964, when the Voting Rights Act was passed. We begin with this story not because Virginia was dramatically transformed in college but because experiences she had in college played a pivotal role in a longer process that began before her college years and continued much beyond them. Four things stand out in Virginia’s account of her undergraduate years at Wellesley College in the early 1920s. They reflect the importance of the courses and faculty; the college’s mission, cultural climate, and rules; and the connections students can make through clubs and interest groups.
