Bill Text: VA HJR226 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Commending Lucy Addison High School.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2024-03-06 - Bill text as passed House and Senate (HJ226ER) [HJR226 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2024-HJR226-Introduced.html
WHEREAS, 2023 marked the 50th anniversary of the last class to graduate from Lucy Addison High School of Roanoke, the last historically Black high school in the city; and
WHEREAS, Lucy Addison High School opened as a public school in 1928; it was named for a woman who had been born into slavery in Fauquier County in 1861 and who, after earning a teaching diploma, would serve first as a teacher and later as principal of the segregated Harrison School of Roanoke; and
WHEREAS, Lucy Addison High School exclusively served Roanoke's Black population for 42 years until 1970, when the Roanoke City School Board's plan for a unitary school system was implemented; and
WHEREAS, Charles W. Day was hired and tasked with navigating the transition and operation of Lucy Addison High School at this time, and his calm and approachable demeanor proved vital in directing the school during its three years as an integrated high school; and
WHEREAS, the school's alumni and community members have worked tirelessly to fund the Lucy Addison High School monument wall, which recognizes the school's many accomplished graduates and, in the words of Louise Bond Cheatham, stands "as a historic symbol of African American achievement and . . . a testament to the indelible legacy" of the school; and
WHEREAS, the Lucy Addison High School monument wall lists nearly 1,000 former students, teaching staff, and administrators, including Dr. Florence Saunders Farley (Class of 1946), the first Black woman in the Commonwealth to be clinically licensed as a psychologist and who subsequently served as mayor of Petersburg, and Dr. Lloyd V. Hackley (Class of 1958), a decorated United States Air Force veteran whose impressive resume includes serving as chancellor of three historically Black universities and as the first Black president of the North Carolina Community College System; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend Lucy Addison High School, the last historically Black high school of Roanoke, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its last graduating class; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to alumni representatives of Lucy Addison High School as an expression of the General Assembly's admiration for the school's history and legacy and the achievements of the school's many former students and staff.
