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William Lester Banks was born in Lunenburg County, the son of William Walter Banks and Daisy Hill Banks. He had at least one sister. Banks attended public schools in Alderson in Greenbrier County and in Bluefield, both in West Virginia, and graduated from Bluefield State College with a major in physical science. From 1935 to 1941 he taught school and served as a principal in Halifax County. Later he became principal of Ruthville High School for African American students in Charles City County. On December 23, 1940, he married Vera Louise Bowman, of Charlotte County. They had one daughter.
Banks served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army during World War II and saw action in the Pacific. He began fighting for civil rights shortly before entering the army. In 1943, when he was a principal in Charles City County, he approached Oliver White Hill, an attorney working with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), about the feasibility of filing suit to require th
First Baptist Church Bible SchoolPaxton participated in an extensive array of community, church, and political activities and was an officer or member of almost every African American women’s organization in the city. By 1905 she was helping organize local chapters of the Independent Order of Calanthe, the women’s affiliate of the Knights of Pythias, an African American fraternal association headed by John Mitchell Jr., editor of the
Richmond Planet. At Roanoke’s prominent First Baptist Church, Paxton was the longtime teacher of the Dorcas Bible Class, vice president of the Missionary Society, and a leader in the Helping Hand Club, which assisted in special services and observances. First Baptist’s
Self-Guided Tour of Historic Gainsboro for a greater perspective and understanding of Black history in Roanoke and the surrounding region.
We hope this list will introduce you to some of the amazing examples of Black history and culture that are part of our community in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Booker T. Washington
Before he would go on to become one of the most prominent and influential African Americans in the United States, Booker T. Washington was born into slavery on a farm in Franklin County. Today, that farm is the location of the
Booker T. Washington National Monument, which spotlights Washington’s life and legacy, while also offering a glimpse of what it would have been like on a tobacco farm in the mid 1800s.