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Lucy Harrison Miller Baber (1908–1996)
915 Court St.
Lucy Baber helped to overhaul Virginia’s juvenile justice system in the mid-20th century. As a member of a Virginia Advisory Legislative Council subcommittee, she assisted in formulating legislation that in 1950 strengthened the juvenile court system, required separate juvenile detention facilities, and expanded probation services. Baber served on a Department of Welfare and Institutions advisory committee tasked with implementing these reforms. As chair of the Welfare Department of the 20,000-member Virginia Federation of Women’s Clubs, she encouraged activism to end children’s incarceration in adult jails. She was instrumental in organizing Lynchburg’s juvenile court system. Q-6-55
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Samuel F. Kelso (ca. 1825-1880)
915 Court St.
Samuel Kelso, born into slavery, became one of Lynchburg’s first African American teachers after the Civil War. He taught at a freedmen’s school on 12th Street and was later a trustee of the all-Black Polk Street School. Kelso was elected to represent Campbell County, including Lynchburg, at Virginia’s Constitutional Convention of 1867-68. There he voted with radical reformers and introduced a resolution calling for free public education open to all on an equal basis. In 1869 he was a delegate to the National Convention of the Colored Men of America, which protested the exclusion of Black Americans from civil rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. He was later a postal agent in Lynchburg. Q-6-60
