One of eight state historical highway markers approved late last month by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources will recognize the contributions of civil rights leader Dr. Robert Russa Moton (1867-1940) and will be placed on the roadside of Route 662 near his Gloucester home, Holly Knoll.
Born to formerly enslaved parents in 1867, Moton became one of the most distinguished African American educators of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1935, he built Holly Knoll, his home after retiring from his position as president of the Tuskegee Institute. Meetings that were held at Holly Knoll cultivated the growth of the United Negro College Fund. The UNCF was founded in 1944 by Moton’s son-in-law Frederick D. Patterson.
Holly Knoll was also a gathering place for African American leaders as well as intellectuals during the Civil Rights movement. Student sit-in organizers as well as business executives met there in the 1960s. Those efforts led to the desegregation of facilities in...