Theater Night at MetroStage

The activities of Alexandria’s legendary Civil Rights icons of the 60s are summarized below.

Mel Bergheim was an active member in the community and a leader in Alexandria’s movement from segregation to integration. He was elected to city council in the middle of Alexandria’s race riots and started his career promoting civil rights and neighborhood protection programs. Bergheim was part of an open-minded group of city leaders whose strong convictions were to advance the cause of civil rights in Alexandria and whose reputation was known as a force for strong commitment for changes when needed and preservation when essential. Bergheim died on October 20, 2013.

Born in Alexandria in 1918, Ferdinand Day was the first appointed African American to the City’s Public School Board in 1964. Working to achieve integration in Alexandria’s public schools Day was very active in the civil rights movement in Alexandria in the sixties. Meaningful integration in Alexandria actually occurred with the 1971 consolidation of the high schools into T.C. Williams High School and “Ferdinand was the strong voice and the strong mover. His strong leadership and ability to work with the community was what made that successful” says A. Melvin Miller, a former school board member and chair. Day was a member of the “Secret Seven” working to improve conditions for African Americans.

When he moved to Alexandria from Danville, Va. in 1953, Nelson Greene, Sr. found a very segregated southern city where blacks were the subject of racial discrimination. In the 1950s a group of black citizens formed a group that was called the “Secret Seven” for political reasons. Actually a group of eight (it was misnamed “Secret Seven” by an FBI informant), the group’s goal was to make things better for Alexandria’s African American community. One of Greene’s important contributions was that he fought for and won integrated job opportunities in Alexandria.

Vola Lawson moved to Alexandria with her husband and two sons in 1965. Active in charity work, Lawson became involved with the Urban League and demonstrated for civil rights, picketing City Hall when a confederate flag was prominently flown and when local businesses refused to hire or cater to blacks. As Alexandria’s chief administrative officer from 1985 to 2000 she championed affordable housing, minority hiring and women’s rights. She died at her home in Alexandria in December 2013 at the age of 79.

A. Melvin Miller has lived in Alexandria for over 50 years. Just after starting his law practice in Alexandria in 1958 Miller became involved in civil rights activism, doing pro bono work on school desegregation issues. Miller worked for equality and justice in all areas affecting individual civil rights. He became active in Alexandria’s African American housing issues in the 60s and this eventually became his main focus for minority and lower income individuals. Miller was a member of the “Secret Seven,” and a bi-racial committee to bring about desegregation of lunch counters in Alexandria.

In the spring of 1960, when sit-in’s were proliferating throughout the south, then Mayor Leroy Bendheim appointed a bi-racial committee to bring about the desegregation of lunch counters in Alexandria. Patsy Ticer served on the committee as a citizen member. The citizen committee succeeded in bringing about the peaceful desegregation of lunch counters in Alexandria without a sit-in occurring in the city. Throughout her career on the city council and as mayor and later as delegate to the Virginia Senate, Ticer’s concern has been the education and health of the City’s children and their families.

Carlyle “Connie” Ring moved to Alexandria in 1956 to start his law career in private practice specializing in civil rights. Ring sued the Alexandria Board of Elections in 1956 for what he felt were discriminatory practices in voter registration and settled for the adoption of a standardized registration form. Described as a conservative Republican by his contemporaries, Ring characterizes himself as a “Rockefeller Republican…nominally Republican until moving to Alexandria”. Ring chaired the Alexandria Republican City Committee from 1961 to 1968.

Dorothy Turner and Gwen Menefee-Smith worked relentlessly hand in hand to improve the quality of living in Alexandria’s low income and minority housing in the 1960s and 70s. The two are a formidable team having their own experiences of disrespect, intimidation and unfair practices living in public housing when they were young women. The women joined forces to bring about change. Working with other tenants, many associations, churches, advocacy organizations, local Civil Rights attorneys and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the two helped found the Alexandria Tenants Council with the goal of working with city officials and the housing authority to establish fair and non-discriminatory housing policies.

Our appreciation goes to presenting sponsor for the event: Goodwin House, Alexandria and additional sponsors: Deborah and Lynnwood Campbell and Imagine Artwear.

Special thanks to Hollin Hall Pastry, the Enchanted Florist, MetroStage, Carol Supplee, Janet Barnett and Jay Palermino.