Early Years
Denny was born on June 10, 1899, in Nashville, Tennessee. He was the son of Lucy Chase Chapman Denny and Collins Denny (1854–1943), who in 1910 moved the family to Richmond. Denny entered Princeton University, where he served in the Reserve Officer Training Corps, and in July 1918 joined the U.S. Army. He was commissioned a second lieutenant but did not serve in Europe during the final months of World War I (1914–1918). Denny returned to Princeton and graduated in 1921. After receiving a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1924, he established a Richmond law practice that became Denny, Valentine, and Davenport. Denny married Rebecca Smith Miller on September 10, 1932, at Brandy Station, in Culpeper County. They had two sons.
Pro-segregation Efforts
Later Years
Time Line
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June 10, 1899 - Collins Denny Jr. is born in Nashville, Tennessee, the son of Lucy Chase Chapman Denny and Collins Denny.
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1910 - Collins Denny Sr. moves his family from Nashville, Tennessee, to Richmond.
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July 1918 - After attending Princeton University and serving in the Reserve Officer Training Corps, Collins Denny Jr. joins the U.S. Army.
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1921 - Collins Denny Jr. graduates from Princeton University.
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1924 - Collins Denny Jr. receives a law degree from the University of Virginia.
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1930 - Collins Denny Jr. supplies evidence in the church trial of the Methodist bishop James Cannon, an advocate of the reunification of the northern and southern branches of the church. Denny opposes reunification.
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1930–1934 - Collins Denny Jr. serves as an assistant attorney general of Virginia.
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September 10, 1932 - Collins Denny Jr. and Rebecca Smith Miller marry at Brandy Station, in Culpeper County. They will have two sons.
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1937 - Collins Denny Sr. and Collins Denny Jr. publish An Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion Concerning Methodist Unification, a pamphlet opposing the reunification of the northern and southern branches of the church.
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1948 - Collins Denny Jr. is appointed to the state textbook commission to inquire into the materials and methods used to teach Virginia history and government in the public schools.
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1948 - Governor William M. Tuck and Collins Denny Jr. collaborate on a draft resolution adopted by the Democratic Party of Virginia criticizing the civil rights policies of President Harry S. Truman.
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1949 - As counsel for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, Collins Denny Jr. unsuccessfully defends the railroad's practice of segregation in interstate transportation.
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1954 - In a public meeting in South Boston, Collins Denny Jr. describes the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, requiring the desegregation of public schools, as "dastardly."
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October 1954 - The Defenders of State Sovereignty and Individual Liberties, a grassroots political organization dedicated to preserving strict racial segregation in Virginia's public schools, is created in Petersburg. Robert B. Crawford, of Farmville, is the first president.
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September 1956 - Collins Denny Jr. meets with Governor Thomas B. Stanley and his chief advisers to formulate the legal details of the state's policy of Massive Resistance to court-ordered desegregation.
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September 19, 1958 - Governor J. Lindsay Almond Jr. closes Lane High School and Venable Elementary School in Charlottesville to prevent desegregation.
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September 27, 1958 - Governor J. Lindsay Almond Jr. orders white secondary schools in Norfolk to close to prevent desegregation.
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June 26, 1959 - After eight years of court cases and delays related to school desegregation, the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors votes not to fund public schools in the 1959–1960 school year.
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January 14, 1964 - Collins Denny Jr. dies at his Powhatan County home. He is buried in Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery.
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May 25, 1964 - After Prince Edward County's public schools have been closed for the previous five years, the U.S. Supreme Court in Griffin v. School Board of Prince Edward County rules that the county has violated the students' right to an education and orders the Prince Edward County schools to reopen.
References
Further Reading
External Links
Cite This Entry
- APA Citation:
Hershman, J. H., Jr., & the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Collins Denny (1899–1964). (2014, September 14). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Denny_Collins_1899-1964.
- MLA Citation:
Hershman, James H., Jr. and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "Collins Denny (1899–1964)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 14 Sep. 2014. Web. READ_DATE.
First published: April 29, 2014 | Last modified: September 14, 2014
Contributed by James H. Hershman Jr. and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. James H. Hershman Jr. is a senior fellow at the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.