Dabney S. Lancaster

Dabney Stewart Lancaster (October 12, 1889 – March 11, 1975) was an American educator and government official.

Early life & education A native of Richmond, Virginia, Lacaster was educated at the Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia. He attended the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech.

Career Lanacaster went on to serve as Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction from 1941 to 1946, as the president of Longwood College (now Longwood University) from 1946 to 1955, and as the first head of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. In 1967, the state honored him by naming its new community college in Clifton Forge after him.

While Lancaster was previously described as a moderate on racial issues, relative to his contemporaries, advocating for equal pay for white and black teachers, his support of race-based segregation in public schools during his career and the discovery of his involvement with the Anglo-Saxon Clubs of America, a white supremacist organization, prompted state officials to change the name of Dabney S. Lancaster Community College to Mountain Gateway Community College, effective 2022, in the wake of the George Floyd protests.

Death He died in Lexington on March 11, 1975. He was buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.