Why was Virginia so staunchly segregationist during the civil rights era?

[kcguy]

During the Robert C Byrd era, Virginia was a states rights states, and was closely aligned to West Virginia. However, since 2000, as John Warner and Robert C Byrd began to align themselves with McCain mavericks, by criticizing Dubya's conduct during Iraq War, Virginia, who elected Doug Wilder, became a progressive state

You do know that Harry Byrd and Robert Byrd are separate people, right?

Also, this is unrelated, but Jimmy Dean the sausage guy is a different person from 50s actor James Dean.