Virginia Highway Marker To Honor Falls Church Civil Rights Leader

VIRGINIA — Five new state historical highway markers that address African American history in Virginia, including one in Falls Church, were selected by the administration of Gov. Ralph Northam.

Northam announced the five new state historical highway markers on Monday. The markers were submitted by Virginia students as part of the second annual Black History Month Historical Marker Contest.

The historical highway markers will be erected in the cities of Falls Church and Richmond and the counties of Culpeper, Brunswick and Cumberland. Three of the five markers selected by the Northam administration were nominated by students at Kings Glen Elementary School in Springfield.

“The contributions of influential African Americans have frequently been ignored, underrepresented, and even silenced,” Northam said in a statement. “With this initiative, we have asked students and teachers to help us tell a more accurate, comprehensive, and inclusive Virginia story by suggesting new historical markers that recognize Black Virginians and the important ways they have shaped our shared history.”

The highway marker in Falls Church will honor Dr. Edwin Bancroft Henderson, a civil rights leader who was also known as the "Father of Black Basketball" for introducing basketball to African Americans in Washington, D.C., in 1904.

Henderson and his wife Mary Ellen Henderson, an educator and civil rights advocate, built their home on Maple Avenue in Falls Church in 1913. In 2005, the city of Falls Church dedicated the city's middle school to Mary Ellen Henderson.

At Kings Glen Elementary School in Springfield, Assistant Principal Christine Ritter led the effort to get students involved in learning about Black history in Virginia and participating in the Black History Month Historical Marker Contest.

Students in fourth, fifth and sixth grades at Kings Glen conducted research and wrote their own submissions that were sent to the governor's office. The effort "brought light and hope to the school" during a year of many challenges, Ritter said Monday night during the online event where the winners were announced.

The school started a Virtual History Makers Club to help the students come together and share ideas and research for their submissions.

At the Monday event, Sullivan Massaro, a student at Kings Glen Elementary School, explained why he nominated Henderson. "As I researched him, I learned what he did not only for the sport of basketball but for civil rights," Sullivan said. "I could not believe he did not already have a historical marker."

Virginia’s Historical Highway Marker Program began in 1927 with the installation of the first markers along U.S. Route 1. The signs are known for their black lettering against a silver background and their distinctive shape. The Department of Historic Resources and the Virginia Department of Transportation co-manage the program.

SEE ALSO: Virginia Board Approves State Historical Marker In Waterford

Virginia has erected more than 2,600 markers along Virginia’s roadways, but only 350 markers highlighted African Americans as of January 2020. Since then, 42 state historical highway markers about African American history have been approved.

Ten of the new markers were suggested by students during the governor’s inaugural Black History Month Historical Marker Contest in 2020. The five new markers are expected to be approved by the Board of Historic Resources at its upcoming meeting on June 17.

The Black History Month Historical Marker Contest invites students, teachers and families to learn more about African Americans who have made important contributions to Virginia history and submit ideas for new historical markers to the Department of Historical Resources. This year, 100 submissions were received.

The five winners and the names and text of five new markers are:

“Edwin Bancroft Henderson” (Falls Church), nominated by Sullivan Massaro from Kings Glen Elementary School in Springfield.

Henderson, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame known as the “Father of Black Basketball,” organized athletic leagues for African Americans, wrote The Negro in Sports (1939), organized the first rural chapter of the NAACP, and was president of the NAACP Virginia state conference as he worked for civil rights.

“Dangerfield and Harriet Newby” (Culpeper County), nominated by Sofia Rodriguez, Michael Burgess and Valia Anderson from Kings Glen Elementary in Springfield.

Dangerfield Newby, who was born enslaved in Virginia and later lived free in Ohio, was killed in John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry as he fought to free his wife, Harriet, and their children from slavery.

“Mary Richards Bowser" (Richmond City), nominated by Larissa Chambers, Sonia Alam, Hailey Solar and Allison McKenzie from Kings Glen Elementary in Springfield.

Bowser, born enslaved, became a missionary to Liberia, a Union spy in the Confederate White House during the Civil War, and a teacher at freedmen’s schools.

“John Lyman Whitehead Jr.” (Brunswick County), nominated by Jashanti Valentine from Brunswick High School in Lawrenceville.

Born near Lawrenceville, Whitehead served in World War II as a Tuskegee Airman and is credited with being the Air Force’s first African American test pilot and the first African American jet pilot instructor.

“Samuel P. Bolling” (Cumberland County), nominated by Ashley Alvarez, Allecia Mitchell, Anna Parker, Alex Hernandez, Christopher McCoy, Adalie Ruehrmund, and Harley Thurston from Cumberland Middle School in Cumberland.

Born into slavery in 1819, Bolling later became a successful entrepreneur and was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates as a member of the Readjuster Party, a biracial coalition that accomplished significant reforms in the 1880s.

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