A state historical marker that honors the late Irene Morgan was dedicated Saturday in front of a large crowd that gathered at the marker’s location at 2425 Hayes Road in Gloucester.
The marker, issued by the Virginia Department of Historical Resources, was unveiled by Morgan’s daughter, Brenda M. Bacquie, and her niece, Cleo Warren. Ben Borden, a longtime Hayes resident and Hayes Post Office patron, was also on hand.
The marker’s text, composed by Dr. Dorothy C. Cooke of Gloucester, who presided over the dedication program, is titled “The Irene Morgan Story Begins” and reads as follows:
“On this site stood the Hayes Post Office, where Irene Morgan boarded a Greyhound bus on 16 July 1944. Morgan, an African American woman, was returning home to Baltimore, MD, after visiting her mother. About 25 miles north of here, the bus driver ordered her to give up her seat so that white passengers could sit.
“Refusing to comply, she was arrested and jailed in Saluda, VA. Her case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which decided in Morgan v. Virginia (1946) that laws requiring the segregation of passengers in interstate transportation were unconstitutional. Morgan took her stand 11 years before Rosa Parks in Montgomery, AL.”
The dedication program included remarks from Robin Washington of Minnesota, director and producer of the 1995 PBS documentary, “You Don’t Have To Ride Jim Crow.” Washington said he also visited the area in 2012 when a historic highway marker noting Morgan’s stand against Jim Crow was dedicated in Saluda.
Washington said Morgan’s stand led to the Freedom Riders who were civil rights activists, both black and white, who rode buses into the segregated south United States after the southern states refused to enforce the law that was a result of Morgan versus Virginia.
The audience also heard from Jim Hare of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources who talked about the marker program and a new DHR book, “Guidebook to Virginia’s African American Historical Markers.”
The book features the texts and locations of more than 300 state historical markers highlighting people, places and events important to African American and Virginia history from the colonial era through the civil rights movement.
Shoshanna Bacquie-Walden, Morgan’s granddaughter, offered remarks on behalf of Morgan’s family. “This would be a great honor for her,” she said of the marker’s dedication and said her grandmother “was a champion of justice.”
Also addressing the crowd briefly were Anne Dyal, President of the Friends of the Gloucester Museum, which covered the marker’s manufacturing costs, and Rachael Burnette, a member of Gloucester’s 350th celebration committee, which honored Morgan in 2000 as part of its anniversary celebration.
Five of Morgan’s young nieces and cousins sang “Rainbow in the Sky” and Jadyn Forrest performed “Lift Every Voice” on her cello, with the audience joining in to sing the
lyrics.
The invocation for the program, the dedication and the closing prayer were offered by the Rev. Ward Warren Jr., Morgan’s nephew and pastor of First Baptist Church in Ordinary.
Cooke also noted that an exhibit telling the story of Irene Morgan is available through February at the Gloucester Museum of History.