Celebrating A8
Richmond Free Press © 2022 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 31 NO. 17
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
www.richmondfreepress.com
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Meet this week’s Personality B1
APRIL 21-23, 2022
End of an era
Hampton University President William R. ‘Bill’ Harvey is stepping down June 30 after 44 years at the helm By Reginald Stuart
Hampton University, one of the nation’s first historically black institutions, was a small struggling four-year college on the banks of the Hampton River near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay when an ambitious, young Dr. William R. “Bill” Harvey Jr. from Tuskegee Institute in Alabama was chosen as president of the institution. The 1978 gamble on Dr. Harvey, a relative newcomer to higher education administration, became a winner for the son of a building construction contractor and civil rights activist from tiny Brewton, Ala., a rural town between Mobile and Montgomery. Dr. Harvey, who is set to retire June 30, has served as president of Hampton University for 44 years, far longer than most presidents at other universities. Along the way, the fiscally conservative academician has weathered the pandemic, political upheaval in Washington
and Virginia and has managed to amass a $400 million endowment ensuring the future of the institution, not to mention graduating thousands of students now weaving a strong alumni network across the country. “My mental acuity is as good as it was 50 years ago,” said Dr. Harvey, who prides himself on having glide in his stride and pep in his step at age 81. “My energy level is like it was 50 years ago,” he said in a recent interview, exhorting his perpetual drive despite knee and hip surgery in the last decade. As he begins his exit, Dr. Harvey touts his forthcoming books that are near completion— one to be issued this spring, the other, this fall—to be followed by a memoir. They will complement his earlier book, “Principles of Leadership: The Harvey Leadership Model,” published in 2016 offering 10 well-defined chapters on leadership, ranging from having a Please turn to A5
Daryl T. Stuart
Dr. William R. “Bill” Harvey was 37 years old when he became president of Hampton University in 1978. He is retiring at the end of June at age 81.
Local Starbucks workers vote to unionize By George Copeland Jr.
Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press
Workers at five area Starbucks stores break into cheers Tuesday with the announcement that local employees voted to unionize. They watched the tabulation virtually at Studio Two Three, an event space in Scott’s Addition.
“Get up, get down, Richmond is a union town!” Chants, cheers and tears of joy filled the event space of Studio Two Three on Tuesday afternoon as organizers from five Richmond Starbuck stores watched as their workplaces became the first in the state to unionize. More than 90 Starbucks employees across the five stores voted as part of the union process, which began in late March and now allows them to form local units of Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. The vote and tally, counted by Cameron
Meyers of the National Labor Relations Board and livestreamed from the Baltimore office, was the culmination of months of organizing by store workers to rally support among their fellow employees. Those present were already celebrating when the first store voted in favor of unionizing, and each store that followed was a welcome validation of their hard work to build solidarity and collaboration among their fellow employees. “Every day I come in and support my coworkers, and it’s nice to feel that they support me, too, and that we can do this together,” said J. Fletcher, an organizing employee who Please turn to A4
Fight to preserve historic New Market Heights Battlefield from development wins white flag By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Around 7 a.m., Sept. 29, 1864, five regiments of U.S. Colored Troops charged Confederate defenses under withering fire and dislodged troops dug in at New Market Heights in Eastern Henrico — about a mile east of what is now Interstate 295. Fourteen Black soldiers and two of their white officers ultimately were awarded the Medal of Honor for their valor in the savage fight that cost 161 Union lives and left another 666 soldiers wounded.
XXV Corps. Now, 157 years later, advocates for preserving the battleground are celebrating a new victory at New Market Heights — this time over America’s largest homebuilder who Mr. Atack Mr. Dawes sought to transform a portion of the battlefield into The Battle of New Market Heights proved to be the final a 650-home subdivision. On April 6, Texas-based attempt by Union forces to D.R. Horton Inc. waved the breach the outer defenses of white flag and announced it Richmond before the surrender of the Confederate capital six was giving up on the project. months later to Union Gen. The pending deal to buy hunGregory Weitzel’s all-Black dreds of acres at Long Bridge
In their Easter bonnets Best friends Aniah Jones, 6, left, and Amyah Tillman, 4, model Easter bonnets they created with helping hands from their mothers, Samiah Jones and Shanya James, during the Dominion Energy Family Easter at Maymont last Saturday. Please see more photos from the annual event, B2. Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press
and Yahley Mill roads was off, the company stated in a message to the county that quickly circulated. The company backed away after finding itself under attack from state and federal government agencies and a coterie of residents who opposed the massive development as bringing too much change to a still rural and largely wooded area where Confederate trenches are still visible. That has opened the door for a regional group, the Capital Region Land Conservancy, led by Parker C. Agelasto, to begin efforts to buy the property from the Atack Trust, its owner. Mr. Agelasto has confirmed the conservancy’s interest in purchasing and adding the property to the growing inventory of protected property in this section of Henrico to ensure that the New Market Heights battlefield and surrounding grounds are maintained forever in a natural state. Already engaged in multiple projects in the Richmond area, Horton appeared to be unbeatable when the homebuilder arrived in 2020 to take on the Ridings housing development that first had been envisioned 16 Please turn to A4
Steve Helber/Associated Press file photo
Mask mandates dropped on all public transportation Free Press staff, wire report
GRTC riders no longer have to wear masks when they board a bus. Neither do travelers taking airplanes, trains or any other form of public transit. The mask mandate ended abruptly Monday when a federal judge in Florida issued an injunction barring enforcement. U.S. District Court Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ruled that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control lacks the authority to impose such a mandate, even to prevent the interstate spread of Please turn to A4
Free COVID-19 testing, vaccines Free community testing for COVID-19 continues. The Richmond and Henrico County health districts are offering testing at the following location: • Tuesday, April 26, 1 to 3 p.m. — Fulton Neighborhood Resource Center, 1519 Williamsburg Road. Walk-up testing is provided. Appointments, however, can be set by calling (804) 205-3501 or going to www. rchd.com. Call the Richmond and Henrico COVID-19 Hotline at (804) 205-3501 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday for more information on testing sites, or go online
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