The Roanoke Higher Education Authority (RHEA) and the Oliver White Hill Foundation (OWHF) have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore honoring Civil Rights legend and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, Oliver White Hill, Sr., on the campus of the Roanoke Higher Education Center.
Born in Richmond May 1st 1907, Hill moved Roanoke when he was six. His formative years were spent in the Gainsboro area of Roanoke. As a teenager, he was featured in the Oscar Micheaux film, House Behind the Cedars, which was filmed in Roanoke. He attended Harrison School in Roanoke and later Howard University where he received his undergraduate and law degrees. For about two years, he practiced law in Roanoke. His office was on Centre Avenue near Henry Street and the historic Dumas Theatre.
Hill represented the plaintiffs in Davis v. Board of Education of Prince Edward County, which was part of the series of cases decided by the Supreme Court as Brown v Board of Education in 1954. His life work resulted in the dismantling of Jim Crow laws across the nation through legal victories which resulted in the desegregation of public schools, equal pay for teachers, access to public accommodations, and admission of minorities to institutions of higher education.
The Roanoke Higher Education Center opened in 2000 to address the need for undergraduate and graduate education, workforce training and continuing education in the Roanoke region. Today, the Roanoke Higher Education Center offers more than 200 programs partnering with 11colleges and universities and workforce programs from GED to PhD.
On September 12, 2018, at 10 a.m., a ribbon cutting will be held for the new building to house expansion of Virginia Western Community College’s Al Pollard Culinary Arts Institute at the Claude Moore Education Complex at the Roanoke Higher Education Center.
“We are pleased to partner with the Oliver White Hill Foundation in this unique opportunity to honor this historic civil rights leader who lived and practiced law here by naming a portion of the campus of the Roanoke Higher Education Center for him,” stated Senator John Edwards, Chairman of the RHEA Board. The Authority and Foundation have already agreed to participate in a community-centered and focused process for this naming opportunity.
Ramona L. Taylor, Esquire, president of the Oliver White Hill Foundation adds, “Mr. Hill’s legacy is centered in law and access to opportunity. The Foundation is excited about working with the RHEA to find ways to promote its mission and honor Mr. Hill.”
We also offer job-training programs through partnership with TAP – This Valley Works.
