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Personality: Warrick F. Scott Sr.
Spotlight on founder of nonprofit Wendell Scott Foundation
Warrick F. Scott Sr. was inspired by his grandfather, Wendell Scott of Danville, the first African-American race car driver to win a Grand National race, NASCAR’s highest level. That was in 1963, when pervasive racial prejudice repeatedly thwarted his efforts.
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Personality: Joi Dean
Spotlight on Partnership for the Future board chair
Joi Dean believes she has been given much in her life and working with Partnership for the Future (PFF) is a way for her to give back.
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Personality: James B. ‘Saxsmo’ Gates Jr.
Spotlight on the co-chair of the RVA East End Festival
“Together we can make it!” For James B. “Saxsmo” Gates Jr., this phrase, which originated with one of his songs, is a distillation of the universality and practicality he believes is key to jazz music and the genre’s communities. An accomplished musician and director of jazz studies for Virginia State University, he is putting his skills and philosophy to work as co-chair of the RVA East End Festival.
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Personality: Linda S. Jordan
Spotlight on founder of Coalition Against Violence
Linda S. Jordan knows that pain comes in all forms. A domestic violence survivor and 16-year breast cancer survivor, Ms. Jordan admits that there is no pain like that she experienced 26 years ago when she buried her teenage son, William Jordan III.
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Personality: Rodney A. Robinson
Spotlight on RPS 2018 Teacher of the Year
History, dedication, duty and fulfilling the dream of his mother paved the way for Rodney A. Robinson to become Richmond Public Schools 2018 Teacher of the Year.
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City’s ambassador of compassion is back
Alicia Rasin said Tuesday she is back after six months out of the limelight. Richmond’s volunteer “ambassador of compassion” said she plans to be more visible after spending six months “getting some rest.”
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Red Lip Theology: Candice Benbow’s love letter to Black women in the Black church
Candice Marie Benbow came to be a theologian by way of the death of Whitney Houston, who she considers “the ultimate church girl.”
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Personality: Shawn A. Cosby
Spotlight on winner of Anthony Award for Best Short Story
It has been almost two months since author Shawn A. Cosby won the prestigious 2019 Anthony Award for Best Short Story during the annual Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Dallas.
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Personality: Margie R. Booker
Spotlight on chair of Top Lady Clubbers’ 20th Anniversary Banquet
Golf is considered a metaphor for life. It challenges you to be the best you can be as you work daily on your personal skills. This is how Margie Booker, a member and parliamentarian for the Top Lady Clubbers, approaches the game and her life.
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CeCe Winans talks about new solo CD and pastoring
CeCe Winans, one of the most celebrated female gospel artists, is back on tour after releasing her first solo CD in almost a decade.
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We were medical guinea pigs, by Julianne Malveaux
People who don’t know Black history have probably heard more about the Tuskegee syphilis “experiment” in the last month than they have in their whole lives.
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The evolution of Malcolm X
“You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to rearrange much of my thought patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it.” ~ Malcolm X, Letter from Mecca, April 1964 Perhaps no American civil rights leader has generated as many divergent opinions as Malcolm X. As we near the 50th anniversary of his assassination on Feb. 21, 1965, our nation will scrutinize his life, his work and his lasting impact on our country and our continuous struggle to address racial inequality and its heinous consequences.
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Schools chief calls for $ to change students’ futures
In his first “State of the Schools” address, Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Dana T. Bedden told an audience of about 300 people Tuesday night that education was “my ticket out of poverty.” “Part of my childhood was spent growing up in the low-income housing of Jordan Park in St. Petersburg, Florida,” he said in an address delivered at the Claude G. Perkins Living and Learning Center on the Virginia Union University campus.
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Amelia Boynton Robinson, civil rights activist, dies at 104
Free Press staff, wire reports MONTGOMERY, Ala. Amelia Boynton Robinson helped change America. The first African-American woman to run for Congress served on the front lines during the Civil Rights Movement. Almost beaten to death in a march for voting rights in 1965, she was among those who pushed the country to pass a strong law to finally ensure African-Americans could cast a ballot without facing literacy tests, poll taxes and vicious attacks.
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Lethal disregard for black lives continues
Protestations regarding the value of black lives have become increasingly common in the public dialogue. The simple phrase “Black Lives Matter” has generated praise from that segment of society that has suffered countless race-based indignities and been condemned by those who, in my opinion, are too blind or obstinate to see the realities of the black experience in the United States.
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Personality: Joseph P. Costello
Spotlight on founder of the nonprofit Friends of Pump House
Joseph P. Costello first discovered the Pump House in Byrd Park in the summer of 2013. He was with friends when he visited the Gothic Revival structure situated just north of the James River and Kanawha Canal off Pump House Drive. It was constructed of local granite in 1883, with annex buildings added in 1905. “I was blown away by the beauty of the building,” Mr. Costello says.
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Celebrating Father’s Day
What is your fondest memory of your father?
On Sunday, June 21, we celebrate Father’s Dayand all the love, lessons and gifts they give to their families and children.In honor of this special day, the Free Press asked people: What is your fondest memory of your father?
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Personality: Larry Williams
Spotlight on 6th Annual Black Pride RVA Weekend planning committee co-chair
An end of college trip in 2014 with a former partner brought Larry Williams to Richmond, but the Black Pride community he found here made him stay.
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Personality: Tara Michele Sample
Spotlight on ThisAbility’s founder who builds awareness, acceptance for people with disabilities
For more than a decade, Tara Michele Sample has provided a space for children and adults living with disabilities.
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Personality: Dr. David Randolph II
Spotlight on honorary chair of the 2019 Virginia Higher Education Fund ‘Jazz InsideOut’ annual benefit
Dr. David Randolph II understands how having financial support can relieve a lot of the emotional stress students are under as they try to get through college, graduate school and professional school.
