Browse Items (373 total)

Educator and organization leader Mary Alice Franklin Hatwood Futrell is an advocate for teachers and students in the United States and around the world.

Lynchburg

As editor of the Richmond Planet, John Mitchell Jr., fought against racism and for African American advancement in politics, business, and education.

Richmond

Seamstress and confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln, former slave Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly wrote a book detailing her life and experiences in the White House.

Dinwiddie County

James Heyward Blackwell advanced the cause of African American public education in Richmond for more than forty years.

Richmond

Civil rights pioneer Olivia Ferguson McQueen successfully challenged school segregation in 1959, but did not receive her diploma for another fifty-four years.

Charlottesville

Marcellus Spencer “Boo” Williams, Jr., created a nationally known summer youth basketball program and led the way in developing a state-of-the-art community sports facility in Hampton.

Hampton

Activist Naomi Silverman Cohn advocated social legislation to improve the lives of women and children.

Richmond

As a plaintiff in the 1967 Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia, Mildred Jeter Loving helped legalize interracial marriage in Virginia and the United States.

Caroline County

As a member of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, banker Elizabeth Duke helped implement the Federal Reserve System's response to the financial panic of 2008.

Virginia Beach

Debbie Ryan turned the University of Virginia women's basketball team into a national power and currently campaigns for research into pancreatic cancer.

Albemarle County