Thank you for your recent Personality feature on Russell W. Scott, current president of the Howard University Alumni Club of Richmond. It’s vital to highlight the achievements, both local and universal, of HBCU alumni, not only during Black History Month, but throughout the year.

It should be noted, however, that in his tally of notable Howard alumni, Scott neglected one whose legacy is particularly noteworthy to both Richmond and Petersburg, while having national significance. Dr. Pauli Murray, who was featured on a U.S. quarter as part of the American Women Quarters Program in February of last year, was a Howard University alumna.

In March 1940, Murray staged a protest against segregated seating on a Greyhound bus in Petersburg. The action echoed Maggie L. Walker’s boycott of Richmond streetcars four decades earlier and preceded the efforts of Rosa Parks.

Additionally, Murray’s master’s thesis at Howard University was the basis for the argument in Brown vs. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decision which forbade segregation in public education. It’s high time Murray’s work be honored locally. The Howard University Alumni Club of Richmond has a vested interest in ensuring this oversight be corrected.

The most obvious course of action would be the renaming of 3rd Street, between the honorary Maggie L. Walker Way and Oliver Hill Drive in honor/memory of Murray.

Visual upgrades affirming this designation also should be undertaken.

During this dangerous time, when the history of all marginalized groups is under attack, it’s crucial that every effort be expended to assure the full truth be researched, affirmed and preserved.

KENNETH C. DECKER

Richmond