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.
The trail passes a bust of Farmer in front of James Farmer Hall, and stretches to the Jepson Science Center, where a mural honors Venus Jones ’68, a successful scientist and the first Black Mary Washington graduate.
The new panels will serve as “a symbol of hope for our students,” UMW President Troy Paino told the crowd, made up of representatives from Fredericksburg and Mary Washington, as well as some of those whose stories are shared on the panels, including the first Black residential student Kaye Savage. “I think we can all agree that this generation could use a little hope for the future.”
JFMC Assistant Director Chris Williams and City of Fredericksburg Tourism Stadium and Sales Manager Victoria Matthews spearheaded the creation of the Fredericksburg Civil Rights Trail. “It’s been four years almost to the day since we embarked on this journey,” said Matthews, who said she emailed Williams a proposal to start on the project on July 17, 2020, and called it the highlight of her career. “[It] will continue to evolve and progress.”
The trail became part of the national landscape in February, when it was added to the U.S. Civil Rights Trail. And Williams and Matthews received special mention this spring in a commendation from the General Assembly, praising the trail as well as the partnership between UMW and the City of Fredericksburg that made it possible.
Williams became emotional about the initiative during his presentation as event emcee, saying the UMW portion of the trail would “forever memorialize” Farmer, who was his family friend and longtime mentor.
UMW Professor of Geography Steve Hanna and Professor of Historic Preservation Christine Henry – both of whom employed Mary Washington students’ help on various aspects of the project – called the panels a vital part of the landscape.
“What’s so important about what we’ve been able to do here is how many connections we’ve been able to make,” Henry said of the ties forged between the University and the City, as well as with elders who shared details from their lives and all who will witness the markers in the future.
The trail’s newly unveiled UMW portion is a tribute to students who “desegregated Mary Washington simply by courageously pursuing their right to an education,” Hanna said. “If we want all Americans to know that the struggle for freedom was real … we have to make these stories as visible as fireworks on the Fourth of July.”
