Letter from Robert R. Toone to President George M. Modlin

Dublin Core

Title

Letter from Robert R. Toone to President George M. Modlin
Ashland Baptist Church

Description

This was the first of two letters between Robert R. Toone, Chairman of the Board of Deacons at Ashland Baptist Church, and Dr. George M. Modlin, President of the University of Richmond. These letters referred to a "demonstration" in which a University of Richmond students held up a sign that stated, "King Cong Died for our Sins"; this was part of a mock protest by the pledges of Phi Delta Theta as an attempt to parody activists. In this letter, which was sent on February 26, 1968, Toone wrote that the sign was offensive to God and detrimental to the school's reputation, especially since the university was a Baptist college. However, Toone did not mention that the sign had a racist connotation, given its reference to "King Cong."

Source

Robert R. Toone to Dr. George M. Modlin, February 26, 1968, George M. Modlin Papers, Virginia Baptist Historical Society.

Date

February 26, 1968

Contributor

Karissa Lim

Coverage

Virginia Baptist Historical Society, George M. Modlin Papers

Files

17289063-Metadata_letter.jpg

Collection

Citation

Toone, Robert R. , “Letter from Robert R. Toone to President George M. Modlin,” University of Richmond Race & Racism Project, accessed April 19, 2025, https://memory.richmond.edu/items/show/388.