LEWISBURG (WVDN) — For this Black History Month, the Greenbrier Historical Society is highlighting prominent Black figures from Greenbrier Valley history.
The first is Christopher Harrison Payne, a prominent religious, educational, and political leader and the first Black person elected to the West Virginia Legislature.
Payne was born in Monroe County to free Black parents, Thomas and Barsheba. Thomas died when Christopher was only 2. When Christopher was still young, his mother taught him to read and write. This was possible because Barsheba was born to slaveholder James Ellison, who valued education highly and taught her to read and write in secret. This tenet of education would remain principal to the Payne family.
During the Civil War, Payne was made to serve as an orderly in the Confederate Army at the age of only 16 but was able to return home in 1864 and start his formal education. He received a teaching certificate in 1868, becoming one of the first Black teachers in present-day Summers County. Payne taught until 1875 when he was baptized, became licensed to preach in 1876, and in 1877 was ordained as a Baptist minister. After he was ordained, he founded the Second Baptist Church in Hinton, and continued his education at various schools in Virginia.
Payne started three newspapers in West Virginia: the West Virginia Enterprise, The Pioneer, and Mountain Eagle. At the time of its founding, the West Virginia Enterprise was the only Black newspaper in West Virginia. Payne was also a correspondent and contributor to other newspapers, including those marketed to the white community. He used this platform to call for equality of the races and encourage Black people to better themselves through education.
Because of his popularity in both Black and white communities, Payne was selected as an alternate delegate to the 1884 Republican National Convention, and a regular delegate to the 1888 convention. While state leaders pushed for his appointment as Ambassador to Liberia, he was instead chosen to be Deputy Collector for the IRS in Charleston. In 1889, Payne was admitted to the West Virginia bar and in 1896, was elected to the state legislature, becoming one of the first Black lawyers in the state and the first Black person in the legislature.
In 1903, Payne was named Consul General to the Danish West Indies by President Theodore Roosevelt. He continued to live there after the U.S. obtained the land and became the Virgin Islands, where he died in 1925. Christopher Payne Elementary School, a historically Black school in Ronceverte, was named for him and his advocacy for education.
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| Christopher Harrison Payne |
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Elizabeth Harden Gilmore (August 11, 1910 – April 8, 1986) was the first woman to become a licensed funeral director in Kanawha County, West Virginia. Elizabeth opened the Harden and Harden Funeral Home with her first husband, Silas Harden. Beginning in 1947 Harden-Harden operated at 514 Broad Street (now 514 Leon Sullivan Way) on Charleston’s East End. This location, which also served as Gilmore’s residence, is known today as the Elizabeth Harden Gilmore House or Minotti-Gilmore House. It is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.”
Her role in the integration of West Virginia’s schools, housing, and public businesses led to positive changes for the African American community. One of her many accomplishments included getting her Black Girl Scouts of the USA troop admitted to Camp Anne Bailey near the mountain town of Lewisburg. The two Girl Scouts that she sponsored to integrate Camp Anne Bailey were Deloris Foster and Linda Stillwell. Her Girl Scout Troop, 230 was, also, the first black troop to graduate from Girl Scouting in West Virginia.”
Additionally, she co-founded a local chapter (in Kanawha County) of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in 1958. During her leadership, she embarked on a “…two-year boycott of the Diamond Department Store, which led to the store integrating its lunch counter on May 3, 1960.”
Throughout her life of service and activism, Elizabeth tirelessly worked for integration, equity, and women’s rights.
Quoted/Citation: “Webb, Jeffrey “Elizabeth Harden Gilmore.” e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 08 July 2020.”
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| Elizabeth Harden Gilmore Archives |
