Growing up in Harrisonburg, Deanna Reed was surrounded by women whose examples of community service inspired her to mentor young women of color. When she returned to the city to care for her aging grandmother, Reed worked in the public schools and became involved in several community organizations, including the African-American Culture Festival and the Harrisonburg Women's Service League, of which she has served as president. For more than thirty years she has also been a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. In 2009 Reed co-founded Precious Gems Academy, an after-school mentorship program for students from elementary to high school. In 2015 she became program director for the On the Road Collaborative, a local initiative that connects low-income youth with academic support, career enrichment classes, and leadership development to prepare middle- and high-school students for life after graduation.
Concerned about school overcrowding, Reed began attending city council meetings and was struck by the fact that there were no female members at the time. After unsuccessfully attempting to recruit a woman to run, she decided to run for office herself, winning election in 2016 with the most votes in the council's history. The first African-American woman elected to Harrisonburg’s city council, she was also the first to be chosen mayor by the council. As mayor, Reed focuses on education and strives to bring together Harrisonburg’s diverse communities. In 2018 Essence named her to its list of Woke 100 Women, which highlights African-American change agents.2019 Strong Men & Women in Virginia History honoree, Library of Virginia and Dominion Energy.
2019 Strong Men & Women in Virginia History honoree, Library of Virginia and Dominion Energy.
Sharifa Alkhateeb (June 6, 1946–October 21, 2004) was born into the only Muslim family in her neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When confronted with different ways of thinking or living, she saw an opportunity to learn and grow. At the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned a degree in English literature, Alkhateeb joined the Muslim Student Association and began wearing a headscarf. Surrounded by the burgeoning feminist movement of the 1960s, she cultivated her own voice as an activist and leader on behalf of Muslim women. She later earned a master's degree in comparative religion from Norwich University in Vermont.
After moving to Fairfax County in 1988 she continued her work to create a better understanding of Islamic life and became known as a spokesperson on Muslim women in the United States. She founded the North American Council for Muslim Women and served as president of the Muslim Education Council. Working with Fairfax County Public Schools, she led a successful effort to offer Arabic as a foreign language in some high schools, served as a diversity trainer, and helped produce a monthly television program, Middle Eastern Parenting. In 2000 Alkhateeb started the Peaceful Families Project, a nationwide effort to research and raise awareness of domestic violence in Muslim communities. She participated in the Community Resilience Project of Northern Virginia to provide crisis counseling following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Shortly before her death from cancer, the Islamic Society of North America honored Alkhateeb with its Community Service Recognition Award.
2019 Virginia Women in History honoree, Library of Virginia.
When famed Pamunkey leader Cockacoeske died in 1686, her successor as chief was a niece who might have been known as "Mrs. Betty, the Queen," according to a petition filed with the General Court in 1701. Pamunkey leaders sometimes changed their names in accordance with important contemporary events, so it is possible that Mrs. Betty became known as Ann (fl. 1706–1712) following the ascension of Queen Anne to the English throne in 1702. Much about her life is not known, but Ann did send a son to the Indian school at the College of William and Mary to be educated and also to serve as an English captive to guarantee the tribe's good behavior.
As a Pamunkey weroansqua, or female chief, Ann worked to uphold Indian rights in the face of increasing pressure from the English colonists. Her name appears on several documents between 1706 and 1712, petitioning Virginia's colonial government to confirm Pamunkey ownership of tribal lands and pushing leaders to prohibit white settlers from encroaching on these lands in violation of established treaties. Ann sought to reduce the annual Indian tribute to the English, which had become more difficult as settlers' incursions reduced Pamunkey access to fish and game. She also requested that Indian youth employed beyond tribal lands be returned to their people and that colonists refrain from selling liquor in Pamunkey towns, a practice that had caused indebtedness among some Indians. Ann does not appear by name in any extant documents after 1712 and is thought to have died about 1723.
2019 Virginia Women in History honoree, Library of Virginia.