While individual organizations have celebrated Juneteenth individually for years, this is the first time they have all come together to make a collaborative celebration.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on Feb. 17, 2020.
WILLIAMSBURG When the Williamsburg Area League of Women Voters first started in 1962, it wasn’t without a fight.
The league started with a little more than two dozen women, some of whom were African American, said Mary Ann Moxon, communications director for the Williamsburg League.
Moxon said when the local women went to become an established league, they found themselves turned away because there were black women involved. There were no integrated leagues in Virginia at the time, but Moxon said the founding Williamsburg members didn’t give up.
“This was during a time when Jim Crow was still the rule of the land,” Moxon said. “But they persisted and became the first integrated league in the state…Now, it’s our history that motivates us.”
That is the description Mary Ann Moxon, spokeswoman for Williamsburg League of Women Voters, gave of the school’s namesake, which opened in 1989. She went on to note that Baker was an inspirational woman who had many accomplishments during her lifetime.
Moxon has taken a special interest Baker, a former member of the league, and has conducted extensive research into her history.
Born June 22, 1886, Clara Byrd Baker, was an educator, suffragist, and civic leader in Williamsburg.
She received her education from the Hampton Institute (known today as Hampton University) and Virginia State College for Negroes (now known as Virginia State University near Petersburg), earning her bachelor’s degree in education in 1945.