Browse Items (72 total)

The first African American woman to become a certified public accountant in Virginia, Ruth Coles Harris was also the founding director of the Sydney Lewis School of Business at Virginia Union University.
Recipient of the VABPW Foundation Business…

Richmond

Social reformer Rosa Dixon Bowser was an advocate for civil rights and educational opportunities for African Americans.

Richmond

Early in the twentieth century, Robert Russa Moton was one of the foremost African American educators in the United States.

Hampton

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

Charlottesville

Nikki Giovanni uses her poetry to raise awareness of social issues, particularly those of gender and race.

Blacksburg

Physical anthropologist Michael L. Blakey helped analyze and interpret the important evidence uncovered at the African Burial Ground in Manhattan.

Williamsburg

Social reformer and activist Mary-Cooke Branch Munford advocated public school reforms, women's rights, and interracial cooperation throughout her life.

Richmond

Mary Smith Kelsey Peake was an educator of both free and enslaved African Americans prior to and during the Civil War.

Hampton

For thirty-four years Mary Julia Baldwin was principal of the seminary that later became Mary Baldwin University.

Staunton

A gifted teacher who strove to bring art to all Virginians, Elizabeth Nottingham Day was also an acclaimed artist of the Virginia scene.

Staunton