Giving Black and Thinking Ahead

PAST & PRESENT GIVING BLACK AND THINKING AHEAD

Metropolitan Bank & Trust of Norfolk Source: Rose, 2000

The Hampton Roads Black community was politically and socially active during the post-World War II Civil Rights era. Hampton Institute (later University) and civil rights organizations led the charge to desegregate public accommodations in Hampton Roads. Two Supreme Court rulings, the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education ruling striking down Plessy vs. Ferguson’s “separate but equal” doctrine, and the 1955 “with all deliberate speed” ruling opened a new civil rights battlefront for quality public schools. In Norfolk, fierce White resistance to school integration led to the closing of public schools, which Hampton and Newport News avoided. Both cities chose instead to integrate using the “Freedom of Choice” approach that allowed school boards to approve a student’s request to attend a specific school.

GIVING BLACK AND THINKING AHEAD

The gains of the Civil Rights era and the legacy of a philanthropic Black community were visible in more recent years across a range of activities. In politics, Hampton Roads saw the election of Representative Bobby Scott to Congress; Mamie Locke as Hampton’s first Black female mayor; Johnnie E. Mizelle as Suffolk’s first Black mayor; and election of L. Douglas Wilder as both the state’s first Black Lt. Governor (1986-1990) and then Governor (1990-1994). In the arts, Hampton Roads is the birthplace and hometown of a number of musical icons. From the blues and jazz giants Pearl Bailey, Ruth Brown and Ella Fitzgerald to the contemporary artists Teddy Riley, Missy Elliott, Timbaland and Pharrell Williams, the region’s musical legacy is impressive. Less well known, however, is the generosity of these musical artists in Hampton Roads and beyond.

Singer and philanthropist Ruth Brown founded the nonprofit Rhythm & Blues Foundation to help new and older R&B musicians fight for their rights to receive royalties. Brown used her settlement from Atlantic Records to finance her nonprofit.31 Both Pearl Bailey and Ella Fitzgerald were involved in charitable causes. In 1993, three years before her passing, Ella Fitzgerald founded the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation to improve the lives of disadvantaged children of all races. Her foundation fosters reading, the love of music, assisting music students, providing health and dental care, and funding medical research.32

Producer Teddy Riley was known for his generosity in Hampton Roads, holding Thanksgiving dinners, sponsoring talent shows and supporting a summer basketball tournament.33 Artist and philanthropist Missy Elliott is involved in numerous causes that benefit Black communities, promoting AIDS awareness and supporting HIV/AIDS research. Similarly, producer Timothy “Timbaland” Mosley focuses his support on the HIV/AIDS crisis and assisting Malawian orphans.34

Black philanthropy continued its focus on improving the quality of Black schools by sustaining underfunded and inadequately supplied schools

Ella Fitzgerald Source: Public Domain