Institution

A driving tour showcasing the Library of Virginia's Virginia Women in History honorees from the Southern Virginia region. 

<div>In 1821 Edith Turner (ca. 1754-February or March 1838), also known as Edy Turner (or by her Nottoway personal name, Wane Roonseraw), petitioned the Virginia General Assembly as chief of the Nottoway (Cheroenhaka). Turner had taken part in land transactions since 1794, but as chief she led a push to divide the reservation's land among the individual Indians, perhaps in an attempt to convince more Nottoway to adopt white farming practices. Early in the nineteenth century most of the Indians on the Nottoway reservation refused to participate in intensive farming. Forced to sell reservation land to pay debts, the Nottoway saw their landholdings decrease, making their traditional ways of life increasingly difficult. Turner transcended these problems to own a farm, where she prospered.</div><div><br></div><div>Turner's level of self-sufficiency was considerable for a woman in her time and place, but her compassion for the Nottoway children makes her an outstanding figure. Records from 1808 show her acting as foster mother for two Nottoway children, and she successfully urged the white trustees of the tribe to return four other Indian children to the reservation. At age seventy-six she still looked after at least two children in her home. Turner most likely led the struggle to keep tribal children from being schooled or apprenticed off the reservation. As one of the last speakers of the Nottoway language and with a knowledge of their legends, Turner instructed the children in the traditions of the tribe as well as in how to survive in white-controlled society. In 1820 she provided surveyor John Wood with a Nottoway vocabulary, allowing scholars a peek at the Iroquoian language. The only Nottoway of her time to write a will, Turner died in Southampton County in 1838 at about eighty-four years of age.<br><br><span><small>Reprinted with permission of the Library of Virginia.</small></span><br></div>

Edith Turner, chief of the Nottoway, lived on land along the north side of what is now Route 58 near Courtland, and successfully navigated nineteenth-century Nottoway and Anglo-American societies while she strove to keep the tribe's children on the reservation.

Turner's signature mark on petition of the Nottoway Indians to the Virginia General Assembly, in Legislative Petitions, Southampton County (received 11 December 1821), Accession 36121, Library of Virginia.

Edith Turner (Wane Roonseraw)

<div>Raised in Brunswick County, Cleo Elaine Powell (b. 1957) “dreamed of being a servant of the law. I aspired to ferret out injustice.” She earned a degree in American government at the University of Virginia in 1979 and her Juris Doctorate at the university’s law school in 1982. She joined the Richmond law firm Hunton &amp; Williams, where she specialized in labor and employment law.</div><div><br></div><div>Powell entered the public sector in 1986 where she served as a senior assistant attorney general in the Equal Employment Opportunity and Personnel Division until 1989. After a brief stint as corporate counsel and director of employee services for Virginia Power, she was appointed a judge of the Chesterfield County and Colonial Heights General District Court in 1993. Seven years later she was appointed to the Chesterfield Circuit Court. Named to the Virginia Court of Appeals in 2008, Powell was the first African American woman to sit on an appellate court in the state. In 2011 the General Assembly elected her to a twelve-year term on the Supreme Court of Virginia. One of three women on the court, Powell advocates diversity in the legal profession. Throughout her career, Powell has mentored young attorneys and often speaks to young people to encourage them to reach their full potential and make a positive difference.</div><div><br></div><div><i>Nominated by Gladys D. Wilder, Media Specialist, on behalf of Emani McCray and Ariel Moore, Fifth-Grade Students&nbsp;(2011–2012) at Swansboro Elementary School, Richmond.<br><br></i><span><small>Reprinted with permission of the Library of Virginia.</small></span><i><br></i></div>

A native of the Brunswick County community of Ante, Cleo Elaine Powell became the first Afircan American woman to serve on the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Photograph of Cleo Powell, courtesy of the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Cleo Elaine Powell 

<div>An avid book collector and amateur botanist, Jean Miller Skipwith, Lady Skipwith (February 21, 1748–May 19, 1826), assembled one of the largest libraries owned by a Virginia woman early in the nineteenth century.</div><div><br></div><div>Born near Petersburg, Jean Miller began her lifelong passion for acquiring books after returning to Scotland with her family. She arrived back in Virginia at about age thirty and married Sir Peyton Skipwith, a widower, in the autumn of 1788. After 1795 they resided at Prestwould, in Mecklenburg County. While managing a large household that included her four children, Lady Skipwith continued to buy books and eventually acquired more than 800 volumes. Her library contained numerous novels and other works of fiction as well as volumes on travel, history, biography, encyclopedias, cookbooks, essay collections, and children's literature. &nbsp; &nbsp;<br><br>A devoted gardener, Lady Skipwith owned botanical books that she used when compiling her extensive lists of flowers, shrubs, trees, and other plants that she grew and hoped to grow. She designed the gardens at Prestwould, including an orangery, a beehouse, and special beds where she could observe the growth habits of particular plants. She collected specimens locally and traded seeds with other gardeners in the United States and overseas, and her notes continue to be a valuable resource for historians and botanists in documenting early American gardens.</div><div><br></div><div><i>Nominated by Alyson L. Taylor-White, Chester.<br><br></i><div><div><small>Reprinted with permission of the Library of Virginia.</small></div><div><small><br></small></div></div></div>

At her Mecklenburg County home, Prestwould Plantation, Jean Miller Skipwith, Lady Skipwith, assembled one of the largest libraries owned by a Virginia woman early in the nineteenth century.

Prestwould Plantation, the home of Sir Peyton Skipwith and Lady Skipwith, was constructed during the 1790s. Photograph in 1939  World's Fair Commission Photograph Collection, Visual Studies Collection, Library of Virginia.

Jean Miller Skipwith

<div>Camilla Ella Williams (October 18, 1919–January 29, 2012) graduated from Virginia State College in 1941 with a degree in music and, after teaching third grade in Danville for a year, moved to Philadelphia to study voice. With Geraldine Farrar, a world-renowned soprano, as her mentor, Williams became the first African American contract singer with the New York City Opera. She received critical acclaim for her debut on May 15, 1946, singing the title role in Giacomo Puccini's <i>Madama Butterfly</i>, and won the Page One Award, given by the New York Newspaper Guild for outstanding performance. In April 1954 Williams became the first Black artist to sing a major role with the Vienna State Opera. She was also an accomplished recitalist and a respected interpreter of lieder, art songs arranged for solo singer and piano accompanist. She sang the role of Bess in the first fulllength recording of George Gershwin’s <i>Porgy and Bess</i>, made by Columbia Records in 1951.</div><div><br></div><div>Williams visited Africa, the Far East, and Israel as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. State Department. In 1963 she performed in Danville to raise funds to free jailed civil rights demonstrators. She sang at the 1963 March on Washington, D.C., and for Martin Luther King Jr. when he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.</div><div><br></div><div>Williams retired from opera in 1970 and began teaching voice at Bronx College, Brooklyn College, and Queens College, all in New York City. In 1977 she became the first African American professor of voice at Indiana University. Williams was one of thirty-five Virginians honored by the governor in 1972 for outstanding national achievement in the arts and humanities. In 1979 the City of Danville dedicated Camilla Williams Park. She retired from teaching in 1997.<br><br><span><small>Reprinted with permission of the Library of Virginia.</small></span><br></div>

An acclaimed lyric soprano and the first African American to receive a contract from a major American opera company, Camilla Ella Williams was a pioneer for Black artists in classical music. In 1979 the city of Danville named a park along the Dan River in her honor.

Photograph of Camilla Williams, courtesy of the Virginia Historical Society.

Camilla Ella Williams

Janis Darlene Martin (March 27, 1940–September 3, 2007) began playing guitar and singing by age six. Her mother promoted the precocious girl, who won numerous talent contests before the age of ten. After appearances on radio stations in Danville and Martinsville, she began performing in Richmond on WRVA's well-known Old Dominion Barn Dance. A test pressing made there led to a recording session in Nashville for RCA Victor. Martin had a top-40 hit with the song "Will You, Willyum," and the B side, "Drugstore Rock and Roll," became an enduring rockabilly classic. Martin combined her early country influences with a later appreciation for the singing of rhythm-and-blues artists. The resulting hybrid music, rockabilly, crossed musical and racial boundaries and was a major foundation for the emergence of rock and roll. &nbsp; &nbsp;<br><br>Record executives dubbed Martin the "Female Elvis." She recorded at six sessions from 1956 to 1958, enjoyed numerous industry accolades, and performed on <i>American Bandstand</i> and the <i>Tonight Show</i> and at the Grand Ole Opry. Martin's fall from stardom was just as dramatic as her meteoric rise to fame—she secretly married and became pregnant, so RCA Victor dropped their teenage star. Martin returned to Southside Virginia, raised her children, managed a country club, and occasionally played locally. A resurgence of interest in rockabilly music in the 1980s brought her international attention. Martin performed in Europe and at major rockabilly shows across the United States. She died of cancer in 2007, leaving a powerful legacy of recordings and fans worldwide.<br><br><div><div><small>Reprinted with permission of the Library of Virginia.</small></div><div><small><br></small></div></div>

Rockabilly star Janis Martin, known as the female Elvis during the 1950s, lived in Danville where she worked as manager of the nearby Danville Golf Club. In 2014 Virginia's Department of Historic Resources installed a marker on West Main Street honoring Martin's career.

Photograph of Janis Martin, WRVA Radio Collection, Accession 38210, courtesy of the Library of Virginia.

Entries on This Tour

Virginia Women in History - Southern Virginia Region

Description

Share