Democratic gubernatorial candidate Sen. Jennifer McClellan of Richmond joined Wytheville historian John Johnson on a tour of the Wytheville Training School Cultural Center.
The center commemorates the Freedmen’s School established by the Freedman’s Bureau in 1883 to education African-Americans in the Wytheville area.
McClellan recalled how her great-grandparents operated the Bibb County Training School in Centerville, Alabama.
McClellan and Johnson then visited the site of the Lynching of Raymond Byrd. In 2019, McClellan passed the first resolution acknowledging with profound regret the existence and acceptance of lynching within the commonwealth as Chair of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission. Virginia is the first state to pass such a resolution.
McClellan also brought her “Community Conversation Tour” to Wythe County residents and discussed her plans to address issues important for Southwest Virginia, such as school infrastructure, good-paying jobs and support for small businesses, and accessible and affordable health care. McClellan held community conversations in Roanoke and Radford on Tuesday.
