Excerpt from William Henry Ruffner, Reconstruction Statesman of Virginia The year 1920 marked the semi-centennial Of the opening Of the public schools in Virginia under the administration Of William Henry Ruffner. In 1870 as now the problems Of the' day were problems Of reconstruction. Since 1861 Virginia had seen both conquest and revolution. The new constitution and the special covenant under which the state had just re turned to the Union constituted in effect a treaty, the intent Of which was to-render secure the results Of the conquest and to fortify the processes Of the revolution.1 Most significant among the treaty's terms, to which effect had to be given through laws, institutions and customs, were the provisions for public education and the plan for protecting and develop ing an inferior race through education and suffrage. The story Of the working Of the suffrage provision is one Of dismal failure. That the educational experiment proved a blessing to both races was due primarily to William Henry Rufi'ner, the Horace Mann Of the South. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.