A fundraiser to erect a statue of Henrietta Lacks in downtown Roanoke and document other prominent figures and events in local history is halfway to its goal.
Harris: Thanks to those who make Burrell marker reality roanoke.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from roanoke.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
First Baptist Church Bible SchoolPaxton participated in an extensive array of community, church, and political activities and was an officer or member of almost every African American women’s organization in the city. By 1905 she was helping organize local chapters of the Independent Order of Calanthe, the women’s affiliate of the Knights of Pythias, an African American fraternal association headed by John Mitchell Jr., editor of the
Richmond Planet. At Roanoke’s prominent First Baptist Church, Paxton was the longtime teacher of the Dorcas Bible Class, vice president of the Missionary Society, and a leader in the Helping Hand Club, which assisted in special services and observances. First Baptist’s
Chuck Harris
It was a windy, cold winter night in Roanoke, when the 48 year-old doctor felt the first serious cramp in his right upper abdomen. He tried to dismiss it as possibly an abdominal muscle strain. But this pain was becoming unrelenting, signifying an impacted cystic duct or even a possible common duct stone which meant he would need surgery. As skilled a surgeon as he was, he could not operate on himself! He would need to change direction and get to a hospital for help.
But in 1914, in Roanoke, Va., there were no hospitals that took care of black people, which was why Dr. Burrell and his colleagues were building one. But that was still in the future. He needed help now and he had to try. He drove to the Memorial Hospital downtown in hopes that his status as a fellow physician might cause them to make an exception to their usual policy of segregation.