February 2018


www.hamptonroadsmessenger.com


Strong Men & Women in Virginia History


Marguerite Bailey Young


EDUCATOR & HEALTHCARE ADVOCATE


The Hampton Roads Messenger 5


Dana Olden Baldwin


PHYSICIAN & ENTREPRENEUR


Edwin Bancroft Henderson


BASKETBALL PIONEER & CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST


They saw what needed to be done ... and did it.


Angela Edwards Roberts


JUDGE & YOUTH ADVOCATE


Mavis Claytor-Ford


NURSE & ADMINISTRATOR


Calvin Coolidge Green


CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST & EDUCATOR


Warren Wesley Buck III


PHYSICIST & EDUCATOR


T


hey were just like everyone else who served others through education, medicine, or the law.


Except when they saw something that needed changing, they didn’t look away or leave it to others. They stepped up to make change happen.


Dominion Energy and the Library of Virginia are proud to honor 2018’s Strong Men & Women in Virginia History. They demonstrated that otherwise ordinary people can make an extraordinary difference in the lives of others.


The Strong Men & Women in Virginia History program is sponsored by Dominion Energy and the Library of Virginia to honor the contributions of influential African-American leaders. The program also helps prepare future leaders by sponsoring an annual student writing contest with awards to students and their schools. To learn more about the program, its honorees, and available resource materials, visit lva.virginia.gov/smw.


HIGHLIGHTS OF 2018 HONOREES


Dana Olden Baldwin* — physician & entrepreneur, Martinsville A community physician with an entrepreneurial spirit, he started a hospital and two factories, spurring the development of a thriving African-American business district in Martinsville.


Warren Wesley Buck III — physicist & educator, Hampton Nationally recognized for his achievements in physics, he helped create Hampton University’s physics doctoral program and works to attract a diverse student population to the field.


Mavis Claytor-Ford — nurse & administrator, Salem Growing up near where her grandfather had lived in slavery, she became the first African American to earn a nursing degree from the University of Virginia and went on to lead geriatric and extended care at the Salem Veterans Affairs Center.


Calvin Coolidge Green* — civil rights activist & educator, New Kent A schoolteacher, military veteran, and pastor, he filed suit in 1965 to compel New Kent County to desegregate its public schools. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the decision forced the integration of schools in Virginia and nationwide.


Edwin Bancroft Henderson* — basketball pioneer & civil rights activist, Falls Church He introduced basketball to Washington, D.C., in 1907, pioneered physical education in segregated schools, and in 1915 founded the NAACP’s first rural chapter in Falls Church. He later led the Virginia NAACP, fighting segregation and discrimination statewide.


Angela Edwards Roberts — judge & youth advocate, Richmond The first African-American woman elected judge in Virginia, she served on Richmond’s Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court and became a forceful advocate for vulnerable youth and families within the criminal justice system.


Marguerite Bailey Young — educator & healthcare advocate, Fredericksburg Trained as a teacher, she secured grant funding for underprivileged schools and assistance for disadvantaged students, and helped make healthcare, medications, and dental services accessible to those in need.


*honored posthumously


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