A group poses during the unveiling of two of five markers on the University of Mary Washington campus that are part of the Fredericksburg Civil Rights Trail. Pictured from left to right are: John White, Eunice Haigler, Frank White, Fredericksburg Mayor Kerry Devine, UMW Professor of Geography Steve Hanna, City of Fredericksburg Tourism Stadium and Sales Manager Victoria Matthews, UMW James Farmer Multicultural Center Assistant Director Chris Williams, UMW Professor of Historic Preservation Christine Henry, UMW President Troy Paino, Sherman White and Kaye Savage, Mary Washington’s first Black residential student. Photo by Karen Pearlman.
Five markers unveiled this week at the University of Mary Washington tell the story of a college campus – and the perseverance of its community members – following the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s. The signs represent a portion of the second part of the Fredericksburg Civil Rights Trail, “Freedom, a Work in Progress,” which launched last year during Black History Month and includes 16 stops throughout the city.
“There is nothing more important than to touch and see and connect and walk in the steps that others have forged,” Fredericksburg Mayor Kerry Devine ’84, said of the impact the signs are meant to make on future UMW students on their way to class and on all who observe them.
Nearly 100 people gathered – first seated inside UMW’s air-conditioned Dodd Auditorium, then making their way into the 90-plus-degree day – for the reveal of two of the markers outside Combs Hall. The signs reveal stories of activism, desegregation and camaraderie in the face of discrimination, including some of the first Black residential students who formed a friendship and dubbed themselves the “Big Five” in homage to the civil rights movement’s “Big Four” changemakers.
The five new panels span campus, beginning with the first two at Combs and progressing to two more on the rim of Ball Circle, one of which leads to the Cedric Rucker University Center, home of student activities and the James Farmer Multicultural Center (JFMC). The final Mary Washington sign marks Monroe Hall, which housed the second-floor office of Farmer, the late civil rights icon and Freedom Rides leader who taught history at Mary Washington for more than a decade. Read more.
