Story
Personality: Alycia Wright
Spotlight on Cultural Roots Homeschool Cooperative’s director, founder
Alycia and Steven Wright began homeschooling their children about a decade ago. While their two eldest daughters attended Richmond Montessori School — Alexandra until the fourth grade and Jordan for kindergarten — their younger daughters, Kennedy and Stevie, have always been homeschooled. Mrs. Wright says because there is no separation between learning and education, the family is able to be “life learners with no limits.”
Story
Personality: W. Weldon Hill, Ph.D.
Spotlight on CultureWorks board chair
Jazz pianist and retired educator W. Weldon Hill, Ph.D., believes in freedom of expression through art.
Story
Personality: Tyee Davenport Mallory
Spotlight on Richmond Section of the National Council of Negro Women president
Tyee Davenport Mallory is helping to show the worth of women’s organizations. As president of the Richmond Section of the National Council of Negro Women, Ms. Mallory has worked to expand the nonprofit’s presence and mission through new partnerships and increased membership.
Story
5 takeaways from The Associated Press series on health disparities impacting Black Americans
The Associated Press spent a year examining how racial health disparities have harmed generations of Black Americans.
Story
Personality: Brandy W. Stoney
Spotlight on Robinson Theater Community Arts Center board president
The Robinson Theater Community Arts Center is a Church Hill institution that opened in 1937 as the first theater for African-Americans in the area. After closing in the 1980s, it reopened as an event space for children and adults in 2009. For Brandy W. Stoney, the current president of the Robinson Center board, the building is “now like home to me,” and an East End legacy that she enjoys helping to guide and sustain.
Story
Personality: Thomas L. Johnson Jr.
Spotlight on local chapter president of National Negro Golf Association
Fore! Be on the lookout for golf, fun and fellowship. That’s what organizers of the National Negro Golf Association (NNGA) are aiming for next weekend when the organization kicks off its 50th anniversary celebration with golf, get-togethers and commemorations in the Richmond area.
Story
Personality: Maureen S. Patterson
Spotlight on the new president of the Midlothian Rotary Club
When Maureen S. Patterson is installed next Wednesday as president of the Midlothian Rotary Club, she will be become the club’s first African-American woman president. She will preside over a club that has only one other African-American member.
Story
Love Stories
We formally met in the spring of 1999, introduced by mutual friends at a poetry and live music event. Our paths had crossed a few times the previous year.
Story
How Jesus became white – and why it’s time to cancel that
The first time the Rev. Lettie Moses Carr saw Jesus depicted as Black, she was in her 20s. It felt “weird,” Rev. Carr said. Until that moment, she’d always thought Jesus was white.
Story
Love Stories
The Free Press proudly presents its annual Valentine’s Day feature sharing the Love Stories of four Richmond area couples.
Neither of us attended graduate school with the intentions of finding a soulmate, but that’s the thing about love — it doesn’t much care about your plans.
Story
Democrat, Republican and independent candidates looking to fill open Henrico sheriff position
Three candidates are vying to be- come Henrico County’s next sheriff, succeeding longtime GOP Sheriff Mike Wade, who is stepping down after serving in the position since January 2000.
Story
Superintendent Jason Kamras reviews his first year on job
When Jason Kamras placed his hand on his late grandfather’s Torah and was sworn in as Richmond’s new public schools superintendent on Feb. 1, 2018, he was not totally aware of the depth of challenges ahead of him.
Story
Friends, family say goodbye to Aretha Franklin in marathon funeral
The “Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin was remembered and celebrated in a star-studded marathon funeral service last Friday that drew laughter, tears and, as with any large family gathering, controversy.
Story
Personality: Marc Cheatham
Spotlight on The Cheats Movement hip-hop enthusiast
Marc Wesley Cheatham, founder of The Cheats Movement blog and podcast, says Democrat Tim Kaine’s 2009 appointment as chairman of the Democratic National Committee was a catalyst for the evolution of a platform for local hip-hop.
Story
Personality: LaToya Gray Sparks
Spotlight on the winner of ESRI’s 2020 Educational Map Contest
LaToya Gray Sparks’ digital story map of how Richmond’s first master plan impacted Black residents contains a wealth of information.
Story
U.S. Colored Troops re-enactors to march into Richmond for 150th anniversary events
A four-day commemoration in Richmond organized by a coalition of organizations called The Future of Richmond’s Past will mark the 150th anniversary of the liberation of Richmond, ending its role as the epicenter of the slave trade. A major highlight will be the “Blue Coats Parade,” starting 9:30 a.m. Saturday, April 4. It is a commemorative procession along East Main and Bank streets from Rockett’s Landing to the State Capitol to follow the route of the United States Colored Troops who led the Union Army in liberating Confederate-held Richmond. Re-enactors will march west along East Main Street, follow 14th Street to Bank Street and enter Capitol Square along 9th Street between 10:30 and 11 a.m. Contemporary military units will join the procession.
Story
NY Yankees legend Derek Jeter ends stellar career on high note
Derek Jeter stepped to bat for the final time in his magnificent 20-year career Sunday.
Story
White House dismantling HBCUs
Not so long ago, Historically Black Colleges and Universities were just a thorn in the side of the Obama Administration. We soon will long for those days because signs of the administration shift from disregard to attempts at dismantling HBCUs are growing in frequency and impact.
Story
Havoc blown by U.Va.
Havoc has been dealt a black eye, and now another tough customer packing a punch is headed this way.
Story
Preston, Jones vie for 63rd House seat
Joseph E. Preston is a step closer to realizing his 21-year-old dream of representing the Petersburg area in the General Assembly.
