A trailblazer of school desegregation in Charlottesville returned to her hometown to address the Emily Couric Leadership Forum. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
The forum held its annual luncheon on Monday to celebrate the 2023 Women's Leadership Awardee, Sandra Wicks Lewis, and 11 scholarship recipients. The organization is named in honor of the late Virginia State Senator who was the sister of broadcaster Katie Couric.
Lewis gave the keynote address to a full ballroom at the Omni Hotel. She spoke about Virginia's history of Massive Resistance to school integration in the 1950's, and her role in overthrowing it. Part of her talk was also a love letter to the village that helped raise her.
SANDRA WICKS LEWIS: The key places where I spent a lot of my time … were Burley High School, Washington Park, and Mt. Zion Baptist Church. … There were role models galore, because the Black community had an overarching mission to elevate ourselves educationally and economically.
Lewis was one of the "Charlottesville Twelve" – the child plaintiffs who, in 1959, were the first Black students to attend formerly all-white schools in the city.
LEWIS: Children, more than ever, need security and protection. Role models and mentors. Affordable, quality housing. And not good, but great educations, starting in early childhood.
The attendees gave Lewis a standing ovation. Then, forum board chair Meredith Gunter presented 11 young women – seniors from each high school in Charlottesville and Albemarle County – with scholarships ranging from $18,000 to $50,000.
