Little Acorn

The meeting of the football teams of Harvard and Virginia at Charlottesville this afternoon will mark the first occasion on which both colored and white players have participated in a collegiate football game in the "deep South." When Wallace Wade, longtime coach of North Carolina's Duke University, heard of the intention of the two schools to break through the historic barrier, he remarked that it was extremely fitting that the initial step should be taken by Harvard, the oldest and one of the most respected of the nation's universities, and Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson and dedicated to his noble ideals.

Geographically, Virginia, northernmost of the Confederate states, lies about the middle of the Atlantic seaboard. But its traditions, the record of the numerous and illustrious leaders it has given the nation, and its reverence for the gentility, charm, and grace that characterize life below the Mason-Dixon line, make Virginia one of the most "southern" of all states. Its attitude toward racial segregation stems almost inevitably from the brutality and humiliation of the Reconstruction era, an era whose traces have not even yet entirely passed away.

Reformers from the North have always been glad to advise Southern states on the proper conduct of racial relations. Usually this advice contains no indication that the donor appreciates the institutional and historical framework within which change must be effected; and all too often it reeks self-righteousness which is by no means justified. To show that the Northern escutcheon is not without blot, one need search no further than Cambridge, itself, seat of culture and learning, to find an instance of social discrimination which occurred only last Spring.

No amount of legislation or flat can bring racial equality. It will come slowly, and can spring only from the considered and deliberate action of individuals. For this reason, the voluntary levelling of racial barriers in collegiate sports is of an importance almost impossible to overestimate. Here is an area of activity common to every section. Here is no vested interest with a stake in preserving the status quo. Here is a small beginning from which great good may grow.