OUR HERITAGE a tradition of black enterprise

By Dr. gaila sims

interests. He became the first Black DJ on Fredericksburg's WFVA and opened Sonny's Record Shop and The Soda Fountain at 503 Princess Anne. Recognizing a gap in athletic opportunities for Black youth, he established the Fredericksburg High School All Stars Baseball Team, welcoming players ages 1620 from the surrounding region. Sonny Dyson was sent to Vietnam in 1965 and killed in action on February 23, 1966, a devastating loss to the Fredericksburg community.

While not always hospitable to Black entrepreneurship, Fredericksburg has long benefited from the incredible aboard the ship Dragon during the Revolutionary War. Following his participation in the war, DeBaptiste established French John's Wharf on the shores of the Rappahannock River and operated the Falmouth Ferry, a lucrative endeavor before the construction of nearby bridges. DeBaptiste's children absorbed his entrepreneurial spirit, establishing their own businesses in Fredericksburg, and his grandson, George DeBaptiste, became a businessman and a prominent conductor on the Underground Railroad

Another compelling story is the life of Charles "Sonny" Dyson, Jr. Born in 1934, Dyson attended the John J. Wright Consolidated School and worked for General Motors in New York City before returning to Fredericksburg to serve as the city's first Black policeman in 1957. While patrolling the 500 block of Princess Anne, a thriving center for Black businesses at the time, Dyson expanded his contributions of local Black businesspeople. One of the city's most celebrated culinary treasures is FOODE, an eatery focused on local, seasonal food at 900 Princess Anne Street. Joy Crump, Founding Partner, acts as Executive Chef, overseeing the ever-changing, everdelicious menus at the heart of the restaurant's success. Crump graduated from the culinary course at the Art Institute of Atlanta and started FOODE as a home-based operation in 2009. After partnering with Beth Black in 2011, the two settled into the historic National Bank Building where John M Washington, another important Fredericksburg-born African American entrepreneur, had been enslaved in the midnineteenth century. Joy Crump based FOODE's famous fried chicken entree on her mother Rosie's recipe, showcasing once again the intergenerational links of Black creativity.

Black Businesses and Entrepreneurship in Fredericksburg, 1787-Present will expand on each of these and share 10 other, lesserknown stories of individual African American business owners and entrepreneurs throughout Fredericksburg's history.