Boyle's first letter was to the
Richmond Times-Dispatch, called a "Plea for Tolerance." Boyle believed that whites and blacks alike would reply in kind, but instead she found silence from the community at large, which she interpreted as fear to speak out. After consulting other black ministers and editors, she found similar responses, which T. J. Sellers pointed out that she was paternalistic and condescending in tone. Boyle became part of the public attention in 1954 when she spoke at the
Virginia General Assembly's Commission on Public Education where she advocated
school integration. Instead of being afraid, Boyle was reported to laugh and called for her teen son to take a picture of the cross. The purpose of her article for the
Post was to convince white Southerners that integration could be done amicably, however the way the article was received by white readers called to mind the idea of "interracial sex" because of the title and the picture of Boyle walking with two black male medical students. Boyle received hate mail and threatening phone calls in addition to the burning cross. Boyle retired from her activism in 1967. She found that her personal convictions clashed with the "
realpolitik of the late 1960s." However, she continued to write and explored the topic of age discrimination during her retirement. == Legacy ==