via: New York Times
RICHMOND, Feb. 17— The Virginia House of Delegates voted unanimously today to retire the state song, which has been criticized as glorifying slavery.
The House voted 100 to 0 to make ”Carry Me Back to Old Virginia” the state song emeritus. There was no debate.
”This puts the song where it belongs — in history — and it won’t be troubling us any further,” said Delegate William P. Robinson Jr., Democrat of Norfolk.
The first effort to repeal the song’s status was made in 1970 by L. Douglas Wilder, a grandson of slaves who was then a state senator and later became the state’s, and the nation’s, first elected black governor.
The measure, which the Senate approved 24 to 15 on Jan. 28, now goes back to the Senate for action on a House amendment that eliminated a provision calling for a special commission to find a new state song.
