STAUNTON – The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Awards are presented to individuals who demonstrate nobility of character and unselfish service to the broad community. This year, Mary Baldwin University recognized Barbara Lee.
At Mary Baldwin, Lee is a dedicated advocate for inclusive excellence, a much-sought-after mentor, and a faithful attendant at events celebrating our diverse community, said Mary Baldwin University President Jeffrey Stein who presented the award to Lee at the university’s 2024 commencement.
“She helps students become a part of the Staunton community, encouraging them to participate in local government and civic engagement,” said Stein. “In fact — even if Barbara is just taking a trip to the grocery store — she never leaves home without her bag of voter registration cards.”
Who is Barbara Lee?
When Lee was 15 years old, she boarded a bus with members of her church to join Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic March on Washington in August 1963. That experience sparked a lifetime of activism, and in the decades that followed, Lee fought for civil rights in the Shenandoah Valley, worked on political campaigns, and helped thousands enact their right to vote.
“Barbara’s recollection of her engagement in the March on Washington, that she freely shares with our students, makes Black history vibrant and alive, and serves as a viable call to action,” said Mary Baldwin’s Chief Diversity Officer Andrea Cornett-Scott.
Politics became a lifetime passion. Lee has been to the Democratic National Convention to see former President Barack Obama’s acceptance speech and has been active in local Democratic politics. She worked hard on former Secretary Hillary Clinton’s campaign and has made it her mission to get young people registered to vote.
She was also a named plaintiff in a federal lawsuit to try to kill strict restrictions on Virginia voter rights. Angela Lynn, a former educator and disaster responder in Albemarle County who has run for office, called Lee a remarkable woman.
“Barbara has been working for voting rights and equality for a long time,” Lynn said. “She was testifying in the Virginia lawsuit against the legislature for the voting ID laws. She registers voters and works with the people closely. She never misses any opportunity to help empower people.”
Lee: Stay involved and vote
In an interview with Lee in 2017, she shared these powerful words:
“We can’t keep sheltering ourselves away from one another. We need to all come together … I want young people to stay involved and to vote. Because this is the only way that you change the world.”
Lee lends her expertise to Mary Baldwin’s annual voter registration drive on campus to help students develop the same passion she has about voting and someday teach the next generation of young people.
In 2017, The News Leader sat down with Lee when she was selected to be one of our annual newsmakers. Here are excerpts from the edited transcript in Q&A format.
How did you first become aware of the Civil Rights Movement?
I guess when you’re coming up young and you don’t really know what’s going on — you just hear things (I’ve always been inquisitive anyway) … and you say, well why this and why that?
When I used to listen to my parents talk about voting in the summertime I didn’t realize that they had to have money to vote and then they had to learn the Preamble to the Constitution. Why did you have to do this to just to vote?
So that’s where I’ve taken my political activism from. Blacks couldn’t vote like white people, and I couldn’t understand that. That’s what keeps me involved in politics. And it’s interesting. I don’t like to waste my time. I like to be involved.
What was it like to get on the bus for the March on Washington in 1963 during the Civil Rights Era?
I had no idea what I was doing. I really didn’t. I was just asked. The lady told me, we’re going to Washington. … I had to ask my mother. The NAACP paid for the trip. I got on the bus … and that’s where it started. (When I got there, it was hot, it was humid and I said this D.C. is someplace I will never live because of the heat). But, to see all of the people! And to see those little ladies dressed in dresses, because they didn’t wear pants then, and little high heel shoes and gloves and hats, and I just had on a pair of blue jeans and a blouse and a sweater.
I remember the days when you went downtown, you couldn’t try on the shoes in the shoe store. You couldn’t try them on [if you weren’t white]. You could hold them up to the bottom of your feet. Too bad if you got them home and couldn’t wear them.
I remember the days of the colored bathroom and the white bathroom.
I remember the days where we in school got used books. Food was catered to us — we couldn’t sit at lunch counters.
And I remember the KKK coming into downtown Staunton in those sheets. And they had those things in their hands, and their hoods on. Yes, ma’am I do. They came right out of Craigsville. But we weren’t afraid. We were not afraid. We stood on one side of the street and they stood on the other side. They came right down Beverley Street. I remember those days. Yes ma’am.
I don’t regret my upbringing at the time because we learned how to be more mature people, we had to be more mature children. Today, you don’t have to do anything … in those days you had to actually work.
How did this experience change your thinking?
When I got back from the march I really didn’t have any thoughts of it … I really never knew at the (time what it meant). As I grew up, I learned.
Reading the history and watching it as it unfolds: I can’t believe we all went through this, in those days and times. But change has come to America, with the first black president.
Young black men, you can be anything you want. Young girls, you can be anything you want. It really puts a smile on your face when you see women standing up.
You are quite involved in voting rights, even going door-to-door.
You know, talking about the way they had to vote and the way we’re voting now. It’s a big change. But to see the Congress — it’s like we’re going backwards. If everybody has to get a voter ID card, what’s next? … It’s really like a slap in the face.
A lot of people I have registered in low-income neighborhoods, they don’t have voter IDs. They don’t. But they are excited about being registered. I am going to keep doing it, even after this election.
I’m proud to see that the young people are out doing their due, and doing their part in politics. Because politics is your every day. It’s your every day life. It’s your job. It’s your future.
What are your hopes for the next generation?
I am hoping that the next generation will stay active in politics. We can’t keep sheltering ourselves away from one another. We need to all come together. I think this generation has changed the previous generations. I can see that in young people. They don’t pay attention to the same things that we went through. … But I want young people to stay involved and to vote. Because this is the only way that you change the world. With your vote. I think today’s young people are more involved and that’s good to see.
Everybody thinks the fight is over. They just don’t get involved. But we still have issues we need to fight for.
News Leader archives: Barbara Lee was hired as the first African-American ‘curb girl’ at Wright’s Dairy-Rite in 1952
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Activist Barbara Lee honored with Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award by MBU
Amanda Smith is a dedicated U.S. correspondent with a passion for uncovering the stories that shape the nation. With a background in political science, she provides in-depth analysis and insightful commentary on domestic affairs, ensuring readers are well-informed about the latest developments across the United States.
