Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Box/Folder, Clarence L. Townes, Jr. Papers, M 293, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University

Acquisition Information

The collection was a gift to Special Collections and Archives from Clarence L. Townes, Jr. in 1991.

Biographical/Historical Information

Clarence Lee Townes, Jr., was a businessman, political activist, and a significant contributor to the revitalization of Richmond, Virginia, spending much of his life working to broaden and increase economic and political opportunities for African Americans in the state. Townes was born January 1, 1928, to Alice Smith and Clarence L. Townes, Sr. He attended Richmond public schools, graduating from Armstrong High School in 1944. He attended Virginia Union University and graduated with a B.S. degree in Commerce. Townes married Grace Elizabeth Harris in 1951, and over their marriage, the couple had four children. Commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army in 1952, he served in Korea, receiving an honorable discharge in 1953. Returning to Richmond, Townes was appointed Assistant Manager of the Richmond office of the Virginia Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company, which his father had helped found. In 1964, he became director of training there.

Townes became active in the Republican Party during the late 1950s. Though many African Americans were beginning to turn away from the Republican Party at this time, he served in many roles both in Richmond and at the state level. He started as a member of the Richmond City Republican Committee from 1958-1961 and as a board member of the political action group Richmond Forward. From 1963 through 1966, he served as the commissioner of the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Townes attended the 1964 Republican Convention as the first Black delegate from Virginia in modern times. Upon his return, he ran as the Republican candidate for the Richmond-Henrico seat in the Virginia House of Delegates. Although he ultimately lost the election, the race for the seat brought national attention to the south and its treatment of African Americans in the political process.

Townes continued serving in various positions for the Republican Party. He was the Special Assistant to the State Chairman for a year in 1965, and that same year organized and was treasurer of the National Negro Republican Assembly (NNRA). Partially as a result of his work, he became an assistant to the Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) from 1966-1970, and then the Director of Minorities from 1967-1970, where he worked to increase Republican ties with minorities. After leaving the RNC in 1970, he helped found the Joint Center for Political Affairs (JCPA), an African American think-tank associated with Howard University. The JCPA assisted newly elected Black officials with the business of government, and Townes served as the Director of Governmental Affairs.

Townes was a founding member of the Jefferson Townhouse Corporation of Richmond, an African American-controlled enterprise that operates a housing complex in the city. In 1970 he joined the Board of Directors of the Consolidated Bank and Trust Company of Richmond, the oldest African American-controlled bank in the nation. Townes also worked as a consultant on federal programs to Virginia State College (now Virginia State University), and as a consultant to the Virginia Electric and Power Company for equal employment matters. He was also a consultant for the Manpower Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor, where he evaluated the agency's National Office Equal Opportunity Program. After commuting by bus from Richmond to Washington, D.C. for eight years, Townes returned to Richmond and established Metropolitan Coach in 1974. The company was one of Richmond's first African American-owned charter bus lines. It initially faced hardships, including lawsuits and investigations, but the business was ultimately successful.

In the 1980s, Townes chaired Richmond Renaissance, a non-profit, biracial corporation that fostered economic development in downtown Richmond. Townes served as the deputy director from 1982-1991 when he was appointed director. He continued his active engagement in the community into the 1990s through his early investment in the Richmond Free Press in 1992, and serving as head of the Richmond School Board, and as a board member of the VCU Board of Visitors, VCU Real Estate Foundation, and The Valentine Museum. He died on January 11, 2017

Scope and Contents

The collection includes correspondence, notes, newspaper and journal clippings, organizational minutes, reports and files, speech drafts, manuscripts and published materials dating from 1944 through 1988. The bulk of the collection dates from the early 1960s through the mid-1980s, focusing on Townes' interest in and involvement with issues concerning race, politics, and the revitalization of downtown Richmond, Virginia. The collection also includes a significant amount of material on the role of African American members of the Virginia Republican Party during the 1960s and in the National Republican Party during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Series 1: Business and Civic Work contains materials documenting Townes' numerous entrepreneurial and civic activities, mostly dating from the late 1950s through the early 1960s.

Series 2: Republican Party Materials contains the bulk of the collection and concerns the Virginia Republican Party (1963-1966) and the Republican National Committee (1966-1972). Correspondence, reports and publications, material from Townes' race for the Virginia General Assembly and his work with the National Negro Republican Assembly (1964-1966) are included in this series, in addition to various Republican Party-related items.

Series 3: Joint Center for Political Studies consists of records from Townes' work with the Joint Center for Political Studies, dating from the early 1970s.

Series 4: Richmond Renaissance is composed of materials generated by Townes as deputy director in the early years of the Richmond Renaissance. These records focus on projects, particularly Sixth Street Marketplace and the Richmond Metro Visitors Center.

Series 5: Publications contains printed materials collected by Townes, many on urban and minority issues. The majority of the publications were distributed by the Republican Party (late 1960s-early 1970s). There are also publications by the U.S. government, the Joint Center for Political Studies, and publications about business, education, localities, civic organizations and public policy organizations.

Series 6: Photographs and Ephemera comprises ephemeral material, primarily related to the Republican Party, as well as tapes of speeches, business cards, address books, and business calendars. This series also contains photographs of Townes and others, mostly publicity photos taken during his campaign for the General Assembly in 1965 through his days at the Republican National Committee in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Arrangement

Materials have been separated into six series and arranged alphabetically and chronologically therein.

Series 1: Business and Civic Work, 1961-1972

Series 2: Republican Party, 1948-1972

Series 3: Joint Center for Political Studies, 1970-1987

Series 4: Richmond Renaissance, 1982-1987

Series 5: Publications, 1961-1973

Series 6: Ephemera and Photographs, 1940s-1970s

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• African Americans -- Politics and government -- Virginia
• African Americans -- Virginia -- Richmond
• Community development, Urban -- Virginia -- Richmond
• Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- ) -- Archives
• Republican Party (Va.)
• Richmond (Va.) -- Politics and government -- 20th century.
• Richmond (Va.) -- Race relations
• Urban renewal -- Virginia -- Richmond.